Commentary on Sūrat al-Ikhlās

﴿In the name of Allah, the Most Compassionate, the Most Merciful﴾

﴿Say: He is Allah, One * Allah, the Self-Sufficient Master * He neither begets nor was He begotten * And there is none comparable to Him﴾.

The formula “In the name of Allah” has already been discussed.

It is mentioned regarding the reason for this surah’s revelation that the polytheists—or the Jews—said to the Prophet—peace and blessings be upon him: “Describe your Lord to us.” Allah then revealed this surah (1).

The command ﴿Say﴾ is addressed to the Messenger—peace and blessings be upon him—and also to the Muslim community. In ﴿He is Allah, One﴾, the word ﴿He﴾ is what grammarians call a pronoun of circumstance. The Divine Name ﴿Allah﴾ is the first predicate of the subject, while ﴿One﴾ is a second predicate. ﴿Allah, the Self-Sufficient Master﴾ is an independent sentence.

﴿Allah, One﴾ means: He is Allah, the One about whom you speak and inquire. ﴿One﴾ means that He is unique in His majesty and greatness. He has no equal and no partner; rather, He alone possesses majesty and greatness—Majestic and Exalted.

﴿Allah, the Self-Sufficient Master﴾ is an independent sentence in which Allah Most High makes clear that He is the Self-Sufficient Master. The most comprehensive explanation given of its meaning is that His attributes are perfect and all His creatures are in need of Him. It has been reported from Ibn Abbās that the Self-Sufficient Master is the One perfect in His knowledge, perfect in His forbearance, perfect in His might, and perfect in His power—and so on throughout the report (2). This means that He is entirely independent of all