هُوَ ٱلَّذِى خَلَقَكُم مِّن نَّفْسٍ وَٰحِدَةٍ وَجَعَلَ مِنْهَا زَوْجَهَا لِيَسْكُنَ إِلَيْهَا
Huwa'lladhī khalaqakum min nafsin wāḥidatin wa jaʿala minhā zawjahā li-yaskuna ilayhā, fa-lammā taghashshāhā ḥamalat ḥamlan khafīfan fa-marrat bih, fa-lammā athqalat daʿawa'llāha rabbahumā la-in ātaytanā ṣāliḥan la-nakūnanna mina'sh-shākirīn · Fa-lammā ātāhumā ṣāliḥan jaʿalā lahū shurakāʾa fīmā ātāhumā, fa-taʿāla'llāhu ʿammā yushrikūn
"It is He who created you from a single soul and made from it its mate, that he might find rest in her. When he covered her she bore a light burden and went about with it. Then, when she grew heavy, the two of them called upon God their Lord: 'If You give us a sound child, we shall surely be among the thankful.' · But when He gave them a sound child they set up partners to Him in what He had given them. Exalted is God above what they associate with Him."
This verse begins with a sentence that returns to the second block of the sūra (Adam): khalaqakum min nafsin wāḥidatin.
And a point of word order must be recorded: the sentence begins with a singular scene, then passes to the dual (rabbahumā, ātāhumā, jaʿalā), and then in the hundred and ninety-third verse turns to the plural (yushrikūn, tattabiʿūkum).
| Verse | Person |
|---|---|
| 189a | Singular — nafsin wāḥidatin and its mate |
| 189b-190a | Dual — rabbahumā, jaʿalā |
| 190b-193 | Plural — ʿammā yushrikūn |
This transition is one of the places most debated in the classical commentaries, and I give the disagreement in a table. I DO NOT IMPOSE A PREFERENCE.
| Reading | Who associates partners | Ground | Its difficulty |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Man as a kind — the scene tells not the behaviour of a single couple but of the human species | The verse's passing to the plural (yushrikūn); and that the expression nafsin wāḥidatin can state a kind | The passage from the dual pattern to the plural requires explanation in respect of word order |
| 2 | Later generations — the couple who prayed and those who associate partners are different people | At the end of verse 190 fa-taʿāla'llāhu ʿammā yushrikūn is plural; from 191 on the addressees are plainly others | There is no note of a change of subject in the flow of the sentence |
| 3 | A particular event — it rests on a transmitted account | Reports conveyed in the classical sources | No report is transmitted in this commentary; and the accounts conveyed do not agree with one another |
And for the third reading I write plainly, per the method: accounts have been conveyed about this verse that ascribe a fault to prophets. This commentary does not enter into those accounts, because their soundness cannot be established and the detail the Qurʾān does not give is not invented (Method).
The root س-ك-ن: to become still, for motion to subside; and from this, to find rest, to settle. Sakīna and maskan are from the same root.
And the particle ilā must be recorded: the verb is tied to a direction — "to come to rest towards her".
فَمَرَّتْ بِهِۦ — the root م-ر-ر: to pass, to go to and fro. The sense of the sentence: that while the burden was light she went on with her ordinary life.
وَٱلَّذِينَ تَدْعُونَ مِن دُونِهِۦ لَا يَسْتَطِيعُونَ نَصْرَكُمْ (192-193) — these two verses are the entry to the long enumeration that will come from the hundred and ninety-fourth verse on, and they will be treated together there.