Surat Fatir

It is also called "Surat al-Mala'ika" (The Chapter of the Angels). It is Meccan, as has been narrated from Ibn Abbas, Qatadah, and others. In Majma' al-Bayan, it is stated that Al-Hasan said: "It is Meccan except for two verses: 'Indeed, those who recite the Book of Allah...' and the verse 'Then We caused to inherit the Book...'" Its verses are forty-six according to the latest Medinan and the Levantine counts, and forty-five according to the rest.

The connection [between this and the preceding surah], according to what is in al-Bahr, is that since Allah Almighty mentioned at the end of the previous surah the destruction of the polytheists, the enemies of the believers, and their placement in the abodes of punishment, it became incumbent upon the believers to praise and thank Him, as in His saying: "So the last remnant of the people who committed wrong was cut off. And praise to Allah, Lord of the worlds." Added to this is the brotherhood of the two surahs in beginning with praise, their proximity in length, and other factors.

Fatir: (1) Praise be to Allah, the Originator...

(In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. Praise be to Allah, the Originator of the heavens and the earth), meaning: their Creator without any precedent or pre-existing law to follow. Al-Fatir (The Originator) denotes bringing into existence and creative innovation. Al-Raghib said: It is His, the Exalted, creation of a thing and its initiation into a form that is predisposed to perform certain acts.

Abd bin Humayd, Al-Bayhaqi in Shu’ab al-Iman, and others narrated from Ibn Abbas that he said: "I did not know what 'Originator of the heavens and the earth' meant until two Bedouins came to me disputing over a well. One of them said: 'I fatartuha (I originated it),' meaning: I began it." The root of al-fatr is splitting. Al-Raghib said: It is splitting longitudinally, then it was used metaphorically for what was mentioned, and became widespread to the point of becoming a literal truth. The direction of relevance is that the heavens and the earth—and what is meant by them is the entire universe—are contingent (possible), and the essence of the contingent is non-existence, as is indicated by His, the Exalted’s saying: "Everything will perish except His Countenance," and His, peace and blessings be upon him, saying: "What Allah wills, occurs; and what He does not will, does not occur." The philosophers of Islam have declared this; their leader said: "The contingent in itself is not; it is not from its cause." Existence was hidden within them, and by creating them, they are split, and non-existence is extracted from them.

It was said regarding this: It is as if He, the Exalted, split non-existence by bringing them out from it. It was also said: There is no obstacle to taking it in its original sense here, making it a reference to rain and vegetation. It is as if it were said: Praise be to Allah, the Splitter of the heavens with rain, and the Splitter of the earth with vegetation; but there is scrutiny in this that will be pointed out shortly.

His saying, the Exalted: (Maker of the angels as messengers): According to both opinions, it is possible that its meaning is: Making the angels, peace be upon them, intermediaries between Him and His prophets and the righteous among His servants, conveying to them His message, the Glorified, through revelation, inspiration, and true visions. Or, making them intermediaries between Him and His creatures, the Mighty and Majestic, delivering to them the effects of His power and workmanship, such as rain, winds, and others; these are the angels entrusted with the affairs of the world. This is more appropriate for the second interpretation, but it is countered by the fact that there is no meaning to the rain being a "splitter" of the heavens.

The Imam said: "Praise is for blessings, and His blessings, the Exalted, are both immediate and delayed. In Surah Saba’, it is a reference to the blessing of existence and the Resurrection, and the evidence for it is: 'He knows what enters into the earth and what comes out of it and what descends from the heaven and what ascends therein,' and His saying: 'And those who disbelieve say, "The Hour will not come to us."' The praise in this Surah is a reference to the blessing of survival in the Hereafter, and the evidence is: 'Maker of the angels as messengers,' meaning: He, the Exalted, makes them messengers to receive the servants of Allah, as He, the Exalted, said: 'The angels will receive them.' So it is permissible that the meaning is: Praise be to Allah, the Splitter of the heavens and the earth on the Day of Resurrection for the descent of souls from heaven and the emergence of bodies from the earth, and Maker of the angels as messengers on that day to receive His servants. Accordingly, the beginning of this Surah is connected to the end of what preceded, because His saying: 'As was done with their partisans' is an explanation of the severance of hope for anyone who was in a doubtful, suspicious state. When He, the Exalted, mentioned their condition, He mentioned the condition of the believers and gave them glad tidings of sending the angels to them, and that He, the Exalted, opens the doors of mercy for them." This ends. There is some remoteness in this.

Fatir (Originator) is an attribute of Allah, and its genitive construction is purely grammatical. Abu al-Baqa’ said: Because it refers only to the past. Others said: It is defined by the genitive construction because it does not follow the verb; rather, continuity and stability are intended by it, as when one says "Zayd is the owner of the slaves," meaning: Zayd, whose nature it is to own slaves, has arrived. He who considers the construction as non-pure makes it a substitute, and that is rare in derivatives. The same discourse applies to Ja'il (Maker) and Rusulan (Messengers). On the opinion that its construction is non-pure, it is an object in the accusative by consensus. As for the other opinion, it is the same according to Al-Kisa'i. Abu Ali went to the view that it is an object to a hidden [verb] which it indicates, because the active participle, when it denotes the past, does not govern [the accusative] in his view, just like the rest of the Basrans, unless it is defined by al-. Abu Sa’id al-Sirafi said: The active participle that takes two objects governs the second because, due to its construction with the first, its construction with the second becomes impossible, so its being in the accusative is determined.

Some have argued that by being in the genitive construction, it is more similar to being defined by al-, so it acts as such. This is based on the assumption that the "making" is causative. As for the assumption that it is creative, then "messengers" is a potential state. Al-Dahhak and Al-Zuhri read fatara ja’ala (originated, made) as past verbs and placed what follows in the accusative. Abu al-Fadl al-Razi said: It is possible that this is by implying the relative pronoun as a descriptor for Allah, or by assuming qad (has), so the sentence would be a state.

You know that omitting the nominal relative pronoun is not permitted according to the majority of Basrans. The Kufans and Al-Akhfash went to allowing it, and Ibn Malik followed them. He stipulated in some of his books that it be conjoined to another relative pronoun. Among their arguments is: "Believe in that which has been sent down to us and sent down to you," and the saying of Hassan: "He who mocks the Messenger of Allah from among you, helps him, and praises him are equal," and the saying of another: "He whose habit is caution and firmness, and his desire he obeys, are equal." Abu Hayyan chose the view that the sentence is the predicate of a deleted subject, meaning: He is the Originator. Al-Hasan read Ja’il (Maker) in the nominative case for praise and genitive for Al-Mala'ikah (the angels). Abd al-Warith narrated from Abu Amr: Ja’il in the nominative without tanwin (nunation) and the accusative for Al-Mala'ikah. He explained the omission of tanwin as being for the meeting of two quiescent sounds, and the accusative of Al-Mala'ikah [is accepted] if Ja’il is for the past, according to the school of Al-Kisa'i and Hisham regarding the permissibility of the past participle governing the accusative. Ibn Ya’mar and Khulayd read ja’ala as a past verb, with al-mala’ikah in the accusative, after his reading of fatira like the majority—like the reading of one who read: "Splitter of the dawn and He made the night a resting place." In Al-Kashshaf, it is read: fatara wa ja’ala, both as past verbs.

Al-Hasan and Humayd ibn Qays read rusulan (messengers) with a quiescent sin, which is the dialect of Tamim. His saying, the Exalted: (possessors of wings) is an adjective for rusulan. Ulu is a collective noun for dhu (possessor), just as ulati is a collective noun for dhati. An example of such declined nouns is al-makhad. Al-Jawhari said: They are the pregnant she-camels, its singular being khalfah. Ajnihah (wings) is the plural of janah (wing), a "plural of paucity" form; the requirement of the context is that it denotes plurality (a large number).

In Al-Bahr, the standard for the plural of abundance for it is junuh. If it was not heard, then ajnihah would be used for both the small and the large quantity. The apparent meaning is that the janah is in the sense known to the Arabs, but we do not know its reality or its nature, and we do not say that it is of feathers like the feathers of a bird.

Yes, Ibn al-Mundhir narrated from Ibn Jurayj that the wings of the angels, peace be upon them, are downy. I saw in some books of the Imamiyyah that the angels crowd in the gatherings of the Imams, and what falls of their feathers is picked up, and they make clothes for their children from it.

In my opinion, this is a myth. The Kashfiyyah among them interpret it in a way that does not remove it from that. His saying, the Exalted: (two, three, and four), the apparent meaning is that it is an adjective for ajnihah. The prohibition of declension (diptote) is, according to the famous view, for the adjective and for having been diverted from the meaning of "two by two, three by three, and four by four."

Al-Zamakhshari said: These words are not declined because of the repetition of the diversion in them; for they were diverted from the numerals in one form to another form—as Umar was diverted from Amir and Hizam from Hazimah—and from repetition to non-repetition. So, there are two diversions in them. As for the adjectival nature, the situation does not differ regarding it between the diverted and the original; do you not see that you say: "I passed by four women and by three men," so no attention is paid to it? Abu Hayyan countered him, saying that he applied the adjectival nature in this diverted word to the adjectival nature in "four" and "three," which is not correct because they did not consider absolute adjectival nature as a cause, but rather stipulated that the adjectival nature not be accidental—as in "four"—and that it should not accept the feminine ta’ or be equal to it—as in "three" and "three." The author of Al-Kashf said in it: "The diversion from repetition is not considered in it regarding the form; rather, the diversion is considered in the realization of that, then the diversion from the original form to denote repetition. So there are no two diversions in any way. And after conceding that what is considered in the adjective is its concurrence with the position of the diverted, then its being accidental in the one from which it was diverted does not matter. There is no direction for the prohibition, and no reliance on the chain of narration. This is the opinion of Sibawayh according to what Al-Jawhari reported, and it is the supported view according to what I have pointed out." This ends. The author of Al-Fara'id and the author of Al-Taqrib also countered him by the accidental nature of the adjectival in the one from which it was diverted, and its absence in the diverted one. However, Al-Tibi said: "I found for some of the Maghribis a discourse that is fit to be an answer to this, which is that 'three,' for instance, cannot be but either set as an adjective without consideration of number or not. If it is the first, then it has no number, and the estimated is the opposite; if it is the second, the adjective is accidental to 'three' as it was accidental to 'three.' So it is possible to say that these numerals are not declined due to the repeated diversion, like the plural and the feminine alif." This ends, and there is that which is hidden in it.

Ibn Atiyyah said: These words were diverted in the state of indefiniteness, so they became definite by the diversion, and thus they are not declined due to the diversion and definiteness. This is a strange opinion mentioned in Al-Bahr for some Kufans. In Al-Kashshaf, they are indefinite nouns made definite by the definite article al-; you say: "So-and-so marries the two, the three, and the four." It was said: "(two, etc.)" is a state of a deleted word, and the operator of it is deleted, indicated by "(messengers)," meaning: they are sent in twos, threes, and fours. The reliance is on what preceded, and what is intended is that they possess multiple wings, varying in number according to the variation of the ranks they hold, with which they descend and ascend, or with which they hasten when commanded. It is possible that they are for other matters, such as adornment among them, or like being lowered over the face out of modesty before Allah, the Exalted, and so on. The meaning is that among the angels there is a creation for each of whom there are two wings, and a creation for each of whom there are three wings, and a creation for each of whom there are four wings. There is no evidence in the verse for the negation of more; rather, some researchers said: What was mentioned of the number is for the sake of denoting abundance and variation, not for specific designation nor for negating anything less than two.

The two Shaykhs and Al-Tirmidhi narrated from Ibn Mas’ud regarding His saying, the Exalted: "(He saw of the greatest signs of his Lord)," that he saw Gabriel, who had six hundred wings. Al-Tirmidhi narrated from Masruq from Aisha that the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, never saw Gabriel in his [original] form except twice: once at the Lote Tree of the Furthest Boundary, and once at Jiyad, where he had six hundred wings, filling the horizon. Al-Zamakhshari said: "It crossed my path in some books that a class of angels, peace be upon them, have six wings: two with which they wrap their bodies, two with which they fly in a command from the commands of Allah, the Exalted, and two lowered over their faces out of modesty before Allah, the Mighty and Majestic."

As for the investigation into the nature of the placement of the wings—whether they were even or odd—in my view, it is something that has no fruit, and nothing in that has been established as authentic for me. In analogy of the absent to the witness, some said: The meaning is that in every side of some of the angels, peace be upon them, there are two wings, and for some there are three, and for some four; otherwise, if there were three for one, they would not be balanced. And this is as you see.

Some people said: The wing is a reference to the direction, and its explanation is that there is nothing above Allah, the Exalted, and everything other than Him is under His power, the Exalted. The angels, peace be upon them, have a face toward Allah, taking from Him His blessings and giving to those below them what they have taken by His permission, the Exalted, as He, the Exalted, said: "The Trustworthy Spirit has brought it down upon your heart," and He, the Exalted, said: "Taught by one intense in strength," and He, the Exalted, said: "And those who arrange the command." They are two wings. Among them are those who do what they do of good through an intermediary, and among them are those who do it without an intermediary. The one who acts through an intermediary among them is the one who has three directions, and among them are those who have four directions and more. This is extremely contrary to the apparent meaning and is not needed by the Sunnis who say that the angels, peace be upon them, are subtle, luminous bodies capable of assuming different forms and performing arduous tasks. It is only needed—or something similar to it—by the philosophers and their followers, for the angels in their view are the abstract intellects. The Ishraqi scholars call them the "manifest lights," and some of the Sufis call them the "luminous veils." Some of their later scholars have mentioned that they have real essences and accidental essences added to what is below them, like the addition of the soul to the body. As for their real essences, they are commanding, judicial, and spoken; as for their accidental essences, they are created, predestined, from which the Lawh (Tablet) angels arise, the greatest of whom is Israfil, peace be upon him. In their view, "angels" is applied to things other than the intellects, such as the celestial and terrestrial managers among the souls and natures. They have lengthened the discourse on this, and the apparent meanings of the verses and reports belie them, and Allah, the Exalted, is the One Who grants success to what is correct.

(He increases in creation what He wills): This is an inauguration affirming what preceded regarding the variation of the angels, peace be upon them, in the number of wings, and a notification that this is from the decrees of His will, the Exalted, not for a matter returning to their own selves, by stating a general rule declaring that He, the Mighty and Majestic, increases in any creation whatever He wills to increase, by the necessity of His will, the Exalted, and the requirement of His wisdom, from matters that description cannot encompass. Al-Farra’ and Al-Zajjaj said: This is regarding the wings of the angels, meaning: He increases in the creation of wings for the angels what He wills, so He makes for each six wings or more. This was narrated from Al-Hasan, and it is as if the sentence is to dispel the illusion of the impossibility of more than four.

From Ibn Abbas: "He increases in the creation of angels and wings what He wills." It was said: "Creation" is the creation of man, and "what He wills" is good character, a beautiful voice, good luck, charm in the eyes, in the nose, or in the face, or lightness of spirit, or the curl of the hair and its beauty, or intellect, or knowledge, or craftsmanship, or chastity in the poor, or sweetness of speech. They mentioned some elevated reports regarding some of these. The truth is that this is by way of illustration, not limitation, and the verse is inclusive of all that; rather, it is inclusive of what is deemed beautiful outwardly and what is not deemed so, and everything from Allah, the Mighty and Majestic, is beautiful.

(Indeed, Allah is over all things competent): This is an explanation by way of substantiation for the aforementioned rule, for the comprehensiveness of His power over all things is what necessitates His power, the Exalted, to increase in every creation whatever He wills, in a clear, necessary manner.