“Allāhu’ṣ-ṣamad” [Allah is the All-embracing]
“Ṣamad” means impenetrable, indestructible and unchangeable.
He is ṣamad. So, He is not material or corporeal because all corporeal things experience change and destruction with the passage of time. Thus, He has no body that can be seen by the eyes or such an attractive force that, though unseen, has corporeality.
He is ṣamad, the Impenetrable Force whose will pervades and penetrates all things.
He is ṣamad, the Indestructible, the Honorable from whom all honors come and whatever honor and power anyone has emanates from Him. He is not in need of anybody or anything but everything is in need of Him.
He is ṣamad, the Absolute Perfect Being, nay the Absolute All-perfect Being who possesses all excellences at the apex of their perfection. In order to attain perfection, all beings are in need of His grace, but He is and will not be in need of any being. His Command is above all other commands and His Will is above all other wills. He is in need of neither sleep nor assistance and partners in doing His work.
He is ṣamad, and in a nutshell, He is the Needless God who is always needed by all.
“Lam yalid wa lam yūlad” [He neither begat nor was begotten]
He is the Creator of all beings and is not the one who gave birth to them. His work is not reproduction such as “reproducing Himself”. It is instead bringing something into being from non-being or nothing.
In the case of the mother who gives birth to a child, the infant belongs to her genus and is like her, i.e. a human. But with respect to God, it is impossible for an equal and similar being to be begotten by Him or for Him to have been begotten.
﴾ لَيْس كَمِثْلِهِ شىْ ءٌ ﴿ “Nothing is like Him.”[1]
This sentence is against the belief of the Christians who believe in ‘Īsā (‘a) as the son of God, and treat him like God. In the same vein, this verse negates the belief of the polytheists who imagined that the angels were the daughters of God by saying: “God has never begotten a child, whether a girl or a boy!”
Nothing is to be begotten unless that the one who begot is preeminent and superior to the begotten one, not to mention the fact that the one who begot existed prior to the begotten one!
His existence is not like the sprouting of the fruit from the flower; the tree from the seed; the water from the cloud; the fire from the wood. It is not like the emergence of words from the mouth; or the script from the pen. It is not like the emission of scent from the flower, or taste from food. It is not like the flashing of an idea from the mind, or intuition from the heart. It is not like the appearance of heat from fire or cold from snow. He exists but is similar to nothing and no one. He is neither in anything nor is anything in Him. His relationship with things is not like that of a parent to his child. It is rather the relationship of the Creator [khāliq] with the creature [makhlūq].
“Wa lam yakun lahu kufuwan aḥad” [Nor has He any equal]
He has no equal in being, perfection and action. He is One and no one is similar to Him. He is the One and Only and He has neither spouse nor offspring! He has no equal to be His assistant and partner.
How could man dare to regard His creature as His partner and commit this grievous inequity against Him?
﴾ إِنَّ الشرْك لَظلْمٌ عَظِيمٌ ﴿ “Polytheism is indeed a great injustice.”[2]
O praying one! Do not consider others as His partners and associates in the favors that He bestows upon you, nor attribute to other than Him the things you do. Why do you think of attracting the attention of those who are like you—weak and needy? Try to win the favor of God instead who has no equal, weakness and need.
At the end of the sūrah, we shall take a cursory glance at its sublime content:
﴾ قُلْ هُوَ اللَّهُ أَحَد ﴿ That is, He is One in Essence as well as in Attributes. So, He is also One in worthiness to be the Worshipped Being [ma‘būd].
﴾ اللَّهُ الصَّمَدُ ﴿ That is, He is free from want and all things are in need of Him, and He is Alone in being free from want.
﴾ لَمْ يَلِدْ ﴿ That is, He does not reproduces an equal for Him to have a peer and a match.
﴾ وَ لَمْ يُولَدْ ﴿ That is, He is the First and the Last. He is not created to have emerged from something.
﴾ وَ لَمْ يَكُن لَّهُ كفُواً أَحَدُ ﴿ That is, He has neither equal nor spouse; neither peer nor partner.
This sūrah negates all layers of polytheism, superstitions, delusions, and deviant beliefs from the Sacred Essence of God, while presenting to us pure and pristine tawḥīd.
According to the traditions, the verses of this sūrah are the interpretation of each other.[3] They describe God in a step-by-step process:
First step: ﴾ قُلْ هُوَ ﴿ Say, “He is my God. He is beyond the comprehension of the human mind and intellect, and He is hidden and absent from any vision.
At this stage, all the attention is focused on the Essence of God and not on His Attributes. The Essence alone is enough for His being the Beloved [maḥbūb] and the Worshipped Being [ma‘būd]. Hadrat ‘Alī (‘a) says: “عَنْه الصِّفاتِ نَفْىُ الاِخْلاصِ كَمالُ وَ” That is, perfect sincerity is that you worship Him without taking into account His Attributes.[4] That is, you worship God for the sake of Himself and not on account of the favors that have been given to you.
Second step: ﴾ هُوَ اللَّهُ ﴿ He is Allah, the Worshipped Being who possesses all perfection.
In this stage, the Essence and Attributes are considered together. “Allāh” is the Essence that possesses all the good Attributes, and thus He is worthy of worship and devotion. As the Qur’an states,
﴾ وَ للَّهِ الأَسمَاءُ الحُْسنى فَادْعُوهُ بهَا ﴿
“To Allah belong the Best Names, so supplicate Him by them.”[5]
Knowing God through the Attributes is the second step in which “Allāh” is the comprehensive word for all those Attributes.
Considering God by way of the Attributes is a means that is manifested in the supplications, especially in the Du‘ā’ Jawshar Kabīr where we address God through a thousand Attributes.
Third step: ﴾ أَحَدٌ ﴿ He is One and Unique in Oneness.
In this stage, tawḥīd is discussed—tawḥīd in Essence and Attributes. His Essence is One and His Attributes are Unique and Unparalleled. The existence of His Essence and His Attributes are one and the same; not that His Attributes are a separate existence added to His Essence.
He is One who has no second or third. The numerical “one” [wāḥid] is different from oneness as a qualitative concept [aḥad]. The Qur’an says: “God is aḥad and not wāḥid.”
He is “One” (ontologically) and not “one” (numerically) which may have a second or a third of its kind.
Fourth step: ﴾ اللَّهُ الصَّمَدُ ﴿ God is free from want.
In this stage, the freedom from want which is the pivot of the Divine Essence and Attributes is an important description of God. In addition, it is not just in the form of a predicate, stating: “صَمَدٌ اَللهُ” “Allāhu ṣamad”. It is rather in the form of a fixed description of “Allāh” and because of this, the word “Allāh” is hereby repeated: ﴾ اللَّهُ الصَّمَدُ ﴿.
He is One but not in need. Other than Him are many, but all the needs and attention of all those who are needy are geared toward that Independent One!
Fifth step: ﴾ وَ لَمْ يَكُن لَّهُ كفُواً أَحَدُ وَ لَمْ يُولَدْ لَمْ يَلِدْ ﴿
This stage, according to the traditions, is the interpretation of “الصَّمَد”. He is not in need of begetting a child. Neither is He in need of a father and a mother to beget Him, nor of a spouse, associate and partner to assist Him in His work.
If He were ever born, then He would not be the First, and if He ever gave birth, then He would not be eternal because He would be prone to diminish and dwindle. If He ever had an equal and a peer, then He would not be unrivalled. He is free and exempt from all these things.
﴾ سُبْحَانَ اللَّهِ عَمَّا يُشرِكُونَ ﴿
“Clear is Allah of any partners that they may ascribe [to Him]!”[6]
