(1) “In the name of Allah, the Most Compassionate, the Most Merciful. O mankind, fear your Lord, who created you from a single soul, created from it its mate, and spread from them both many men and women. Fear Allah, in whose name you appeal to one another, and be mindful of your ties of kinship. Indeed, Allah is ever Watchful over you.”
Allah Most High opened this surah by commanding people to fear Him, urging them to worship Him, commanding them to maintain ties of kinship, and encouraging them to do so.
He also explained the compelling reasons for each of these duties. What requires you to fear Him is that He is “your Lord, who created you,” provides for you, and nurtures you with His immense blessings. Among these blessings is that He created you “from a single soul and created from it its mate,” so that they would be compatible, he would find tranquility in her, the blessing would thereby be complete, and joy would ensue. Another reason compelling you to fear Him is that you invoke Him when appealing to one another and hold Him in reverence. When you wish to have your needs and purposes fulfilled, you seek their fulfillment by appealing in Allah’s name. Thus, one person says to another, “I ask you by Allah to do such-and-such,” knowing that the reverence for Allah in the other person’s heart will lead him not to refuse someone who appeals to him by Allah. Just as you revere Him in this way, you must also revere Him by worshipping and fearing Him.
Likewise, His declaration that He is Watchful means that He is fully aware of His servants in all their movements and moments of stillness, in private and in public, and in every circumstance. He watches them in all these states, which requires them to remain conscious of His watchfulness, feel deep shame before Him, and steadfastly fear Him.
His statement that He created them from a single soul and spread them throughout the regions of the earth, although they all trace back to one origin, calls upon them to show compassion and tenderness toward one another. He coupled the command to fear Him with the command to honor relatives and the prohibition against severing ties with them, thereby emphasizing this right. Just as the right of Allah must be fulfilled, so too must the rights of His creatures, especially those of one’s closest relatives. Indeed, fulfilling their rights is itself among the duties owed to Allah that He has commanded.
Reflect on how He opened this surah with commands to fear Him and, in general terms, to maintain family and marital bonds. He then explained these matters in the fullest detail, from the beginning of the surah to its end. It is thus as though the entire surah is built upon the matters mentioned here, elaborating what was stated in summary and clarifying what was left unspecified.
The words “and created from it its mate” draw attention to observing and fulfilling the rights of husbands and wives. Since wives were created from husbands, they share the closest kinship, the strongest connection, and the closest (1) bond.