Verse 5
The Sincerity • makkah
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Commentary:
This verse disposes of a possible doubt that the previous verses might have created: Granted that Allah is One, Alone, Absolute and Independent of all and that He neither begets nor is He begotten, but there might be in existence another being who, like Him, might also possess all the attributes He possesses. The verse effectively removes this misgiving. It says that there is none like Allah. Human reason demands, and the Quran has conceded the reasonableness of this demand, that there should be One Creator and Controller of the whole universe. The perfect order that pervades and permeates it leads to the inevitable result that one uniform law must govern it, and the unity and uniformity of the law and the design proves and proclaims the Unity of its Maker (21:23). Thus the Surah cuts at the root of all polytheistic beliefs that exist in one form or other in other faiths—belief in two, three or more gods, or the belief that soul and matter or any other thing co-exists with Allah.
God, as conceived and held out by Islam, is a personal God and not a mere philosophical conception; One, Alone, Unique, Eternal and Absolute, without beginning or end, Incomparable, above the need of being succeeded by anyone, nor ever having succeeded anyone. This is the sublime definition of the Supreme Being as given in the Quran; and nothing in any other revealed Scripture touches even the fringes of the beauty, sublimity and majesty of this definition.
42:12.
This verse disposes of a possible doubt to which the previous verses might have given rise. Granted that Allah is One, Alone, Absolute and Independent of all, and granted that He neither begets nor is He begotten, but there might be in existence another being who, like Him, might also be possessing all the attributes He possesses. The verse removes this misgiving. It says that there is none like Allah. Human reason also demands that there should be only One Creator and Controller of the whole universe. The perfect order that pervades and permeates it leads to the inevitable result that one uniform law must govern it, and the unity and uniformity of the law and the design proves and proclaims the Unity of the Maker (21:23). Thus the Surah cuts at the root of all polytheistic beliefs that are to be found in one form or other in other Faiths—belief in two, three or more gods, or the belief that soul and matter coexist with Allah. This is the sublime definition of the Supreme Being as given in the Qur