Surah Ya Sin (Ya Sin) 36 : 36

Explanatory Note

Having given them this gentle and inspiring touch, the sūrah then turns away from them a little to glorify God who gave them the flourishing gardens, making all plants in pairs, male and female, like men and women and countless other species known only to God:

“Limitless in His glory is He who created all things in pairs: whatever the earth produces, their own human kind and other creatures of which they have no knowledge.” (Verse 36)

With this glorification of God, voiced at exactly the right place and time, a great fact of the universe is brought to the fore; that is, the oneness of creation, the rule that applies to it and the way it is made. God has created all living things in pairs, and this applies to plants in the same way as it applies to man, and everything else: ‘and other creatures of which they have no knowledge.’ This unity points to the fact that the Creator is one. It is He who put in place the oneness of creation, despite the great varieties of shape, size, kind, race, features, etc. in all these creatures which are known only to Him. This rule of creating things in pairs may apply to everything in the universe, including inanimate objects, but this is knowledge that rests with God alone. It has now, for example, been established that the atom, which is the smallest unit of matter we know includes a pair of electric charges, positive and negative. Moreover, thousands of pairs of stars have been observed: each pair of stars move together in the same orbit, as if they are playing the same tune. That was the sign given by the dead land quickening to produce life. We now look at the sign presented by the skies and the phenomena people see with their own eyes as God’s hand produces miracles: Another sign for them is the night: We strip the daylight from it, and they are plunged in darkness.