“Originator of the heavens and the earth. He has made for you spouses from among yourselves, and mates among the livestock. Through this He multiplies you. Nothing is like Him, and He is the All-Hearing, the All-Seeing. (11)
To Him belong the keys of the heavens and the earth. He expands provision for whom He wills and restricts it. Indeed, He has full knowledge of all things. (12)
He has ordained for you the religion which He enjoined upon Noah, and which We have revealed to you, and which We enjoined upon Abraham, Moses, and Jesus: establish the religion and do not be divided concerning it. What you call them to is grievous to the polytheists. Allah chooses for Himself whom He wills and guides to Himself whoever turns to Him in repentance. (13)”
“Or have they taken”—rather, they have taken, that is, the disbelievers (1)—“protectors besides Him,” that is, besides Allah (2)? “Yet Allah alone is the Protector.” Ibn Abbas (3), may Allah be pleased with him, said: “He is your Protector, O Muhammad, and the Protector of those who follow you.” “He gives life to the dead, and He is able to do all things.”
“Whatever matter you differ over,” that is, regarding matters of religion, “its judgment rests with Allah.” He will decide it and judge between them on the Day of Resurrection with a decisive judgment that removes all doubt. “Such is Allah,” the One who judges between those who differ; “my Lord: in Him I place my trust, and to Him I turn in repentance.”
“Originator of the heavens and the earth. He has made for you spouses from among yourselves,” that is, lawful wives of your own kind. It was said that He said, “from among yourselves,” because He created Eve from Adam’s rib. “And mates among the livestock,” that is, varieties of males and females. “Through this He multiplies you,” meaning, He creates you. “Through this” means in the womb. It was also said: in the belly; and it was said: through this manner of creation. Mujahid said: offspring after offspring among people and livestock. It was also said that fi means ba, that is, He multiplies you by it. Another interpretation is that it means: He increases your numbers through marriage.
“Nothing is like Him.” The word mithl (“like”) is supplementary, meaning: He is not like anything; the word “like” is added for emphasis, as in His saying: “And if they believe in the like of that which you believe in” (al-Baqarah 2:137). It was also said that the particle ka- is supplementary; its sense is: Nothing is like Him. Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him, said: “He has no equal.” “And He is the All-Hearing, the All-Seeing.”
“To Him belong the keys of the heavens and the earth,” meaning, the keys of provision in the heavens and the earth. Al-Kalbi said: rain and vegetation. “He expands provision for whom He wills and restricts it,” because the keys of provision are in His hand. “Indeed, He has full knowledge of all things.”
His saying, exalted is He: “He has ordained for you the religion,” means that He has made it clear and prescribed it for you. “Which He enjoined upon Noah,” who was the first of the prophets of the revealed law. Mujahid said: “We enjoined upon you and him, O Muhammad, one religion.” “And that which We revealed to you,” from