Surah an-Naml (The Ant ) 27 : 62

Explanatory Note

Next, the sūrah tells them about themselves.

As it tells them about their inner thoughts and real position, this verse speaks to peoples’ consciences. When a person finds himself in real distress, expecting little help from anywhere, he resorts to none other than God to remove his distress. This is especially so when the distress is too much to cope with; when the help one had been expecting from friends and relatives fails to materialize; when one looks around only to find oneself in a hopeless situation with no means of escape; when no power, not even one’s own, is able to do much to relieve one’s distress; when whatever one has prepared for hard times proves useless. In such a situation human nature wakes up and appeals to the only power that can provide help and support. Man then appeals to God, even though he had forgotten Him in times of ease and plenty.

It is only God, and none other, who responds to a person in distress and removes ill and hardship. It is God who restores security to such a person and removes all that has been afflicting him.

In times of ease and plenty people are oblivious of this fact. They try to find support and protection with some worldly power, flimsy as such may be. Yet when distress and hardship are too strong, their nature regains insight and they turn back to their Lord, seeking His forgiveness and support.

The Qur’ān directs stubborn opponents of faith to this fact that lies in their nature. It incorporates this with the indisputable facts of the universe, such as the creation of the heavens and earth, rain, plant growth, man’s firm abode on earth, the mountains, rivers and the barrier between river and sea water. That a person in distress appeals to God for help is also a fact of life which is no less true than any of these.

The sūrah continues to direct their feelings to realities in their life: “And makes you inherit the earth?” Who is it that allows people to take charge of the earth? It is God who initially placed mankind in charge of the earth, and then made them succeed one another, generation after generation. It is He who created them in accordance with laws of nature that allow their existence on earth, and granted them talents and abilities that prepare them for their great task of building life on earth. These laws make the earth what it is, providing them with a suitable abode, and produce harmony and complementarity in the whole universe so as to provide and maintain the balance that promotes life and ensures its continuity. Should any of the many existing conditions be disturbed, life on earth becomes impossible.

Besides, it is God who has determined life and death, to allow one generation to succeed another. Had earlier generations continued to live, the earth would be too small for them and their descendants. Life, civilization and thought would have become stale and slow, as the succession of generations promotes new thinking and experimenting. Had too many generations been allowed to live together, conflict and dispute would have increased exponentially.

All these are facts we find within the human soul, in the same way as the facts mentioned earlier exist in the universe. Who brought about their existence? “Could there be any deity alongside God?” (Verse 62) They certainly forget or choose to be oblivious. “Little do they reflect.” (Verse 62) Had man reflected on such facts, he would maintain his bond with God as it was originally. He would not have been oblivious of it, and he would never have associated partners with God.

The phrase أَإِلَـٰهٌ مَّعَ اللَّـهِ "A deity with Allah?" is repeated 5 times in this Surah. This phrase does not occur in any of the Surah of the Qur'an and is unique to Surah an-Naml.

أَمَّنْ خَلَقَ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضَ وَأَنزَلَ لَكُم مِّنَ السَّمَاءِ مَاءً فَأَنبَتْنَا بِهِ حَدَائِقَ ذَاتَ بَهْجَةٍ مَّا كَانَ لَكُمْ أَن تُنبِتُوا شَجَرَهَا ۗ أَإِلَـٰهٌ مَّعَ اللَّـهِ ۚ بَلْ هُمْ قَوْمٌ يَعْدِلُونَ  "[More precisely], is He [not best] who created the heavens and the earth and sent down for you rain from the sky, causing to grow thereby gardens of joyful beauty which you could not [otherwise] have grown the trees thereof? Is there a deity with Allah? [No], but they are a people who ascribe equals [to Him]." (27:60)

أَمَّن جَعَلَ الْأَرْضَ قَرَارًا وَجَعَلَ خِلَالَهَا أَنْهَارًا وَجَعَلَ لَهَا رَوَاسِيَ وَجَعَلَ بَيْنَ الْبَحْرَيْنِ حَاجِزًا ۗ أَإِلَـٰهٌ مَّعَ اللَّـهِ ۚ بَلْ أَكْثَرُهُمْ لَا يَعْلَمُونَ "Is He [not best] who made the earth a stable ground and placed within it rivers and made for it firmly set mountains and placed between the two seas a barrier? Is there a deity with Allah? [No], but most of them do not know." (27:61)

أَمَّن يُجِيبُ الْمُضْطَرَّ إِذَا دَعَاهُ وَيَكْشِفُ السُّوءَ وَيَجْعَلُكُمْ خُلَفَاءَ الْأَرْضِ ۗ أَإِلَـٰهٌ مَّعَ اللَّـهِ ۚ قَلِيلًا مَّا تَذَكَّرُونَ "Is He [not best] who responds to the desperate one when he calls upon Him and removes evil and makes you inheritors of the earth? Is there a deity with Allah? Little do you remember." (27:62)

 أَمَّن يَهْدِيكُمْ فِي ظُلُمَاتِ الْبَرِّ وَالْبَحْرِ وَمَن يُرْسِلُ الرِّيَاحَ بُشْرًا بَيْنَ يَدَيْ رَحْمَتِهِ ۗ أَإِلَـٰهٌ مَّعَ اللَّـهِ ۚ تَعَالَى اللَّـهُ عَمَّا يُشْرِكُونَ "Is He [not best] who guides you through the darknesses of the land and sea and who sends the winds as good tidings before His mercy? Is there a deity with Allah? High is Allah above whatever they associate with Him." (27:63)

أَمَّن يَبْدَأُ الْخَلْقَ ثُمَّ يُعِيدُهُ وَمَن يَرْزُقُكُم مِّنَ السَّمَاءِ وَالْأَرْضِ أَإِلَـٰهٌ مَّعَ اللَّـهِ قُلْ هَاتُوا بُرْهَانَكُمْ إِن كُنتُمْ صَادِقِينَ "Is He [not best] who begins creation and then repeats it and who provides for you from the heaven and earth? Is there a deity with Allah? Say, "Produce your proof, if you should be truthful." (27:64)