Al-An'am (The Cattle): (101) The Originator of the heavens and the earth...

Know that after the Almighty established the falsehood of the sayings of various groups of worldly people—the polytheists—He proceeded to establish proofs against the claims of those who affirm a child for Him. He said: {The Originator (Badi') of the heavens and the earth.}

Know that the exegesis of His saying: {The Originator of the heavens and the earth} has already been covered in Surah Al-Baqarah. However, here we will point to the primary objective of this verse.

We say: Ibda' (Originating/Creating without a model) is the act of bringing something into existence without a preceding example. Therefore, whoever introduces a new method in any art form that no one preceded him in, it is said that he has abda'a (originated) in it.

Once you know this, we say: Allah, the Exalted, concedes to the Christians that Jesus (peace be upon him) came into being without a father or semen; rather, he came into existence because Allah brought him into existence without a preceding father.

If you grasp this, we say: The purpose of the verse is to state that you (Christians) must mean one of three things by His being the Father of Allah:

1. That He brought him into existence through the manner of Ibda' (original creation) without a preceding semen or father.
2. That His being the Son of Allah means what is familiar and customary regarding a human being being the son of his father.
3. That His being the Son of Allah means a third concept, different from these two understandings.

This possibility is false. Although the Almighty brings about contingent events in this lower world based on known causes and specific means, the Christians concede that the lower world is created. If that is the case, they must admit that the Almighty created the heavens and the earth without preceding matter or time. If that is so, His creation of the heavens and the earth must have been through Ibda'.

If merely being the Originator (Badi') of Jesus (peace be upon him) necessitates Him being the Father of Jesus, then being the Originator of the heavens and the earth must necessitate Him being the Father of the heavens and the earth. This is known to be false by consensus. Thus, merely being the Originator of Jesus (peace be upon him) does not necessitate Him being His Father. This is the meaning intended by {The Originator of the heavens and the earth}.

He only mentioned the heavens and the earth and not what is in them because the creation of what is in the heavens and the earth does not occur through Ibda'. However, the creation of the essence of the heavens and the earth occurred through Ibda'. Therefore, the purpose of the refutation is achieved by mentioning the heavens and the earth, not what is within them. This refutes the first argument.

That what is meant by "Son" is the usual, known process of birth among living creatures. This is also false, and there are several proofs for this:

The First Proof: This type of birth is only valid for one who has a mate and desire, from whom a part separates and is retained within the female's womb. These conditions apply only to a body capable of conjunction and separation, movement and stillness, limitation, finitude, desire, and pleasure. All these attributes are impossible for the Creator of the universe. This is the meaning of His saying: How can He have a son when He has no consort?

The Second Proof: Achieving offspring through this method is only valid for one who is not capable of creating, bringing forth, and forming all at once. When such a being desires offspring and is incapable of creating it instantly, he resorts to the customary method. However, for the One who is the Creator of all possibilities, capable of all created things, when He wills to create something, He says, "Be," and it is. For the One described with this attribute, creating a person through the method of birth is impossible. This is the meaning of His saying: {And He created all things}.

The Third Proof: This son must either be eternal (Qadim) or created (Hadith).

It cannot be eternal because the eternal must be necessarily existent by itself. Whatever is necessarily existent by itself is self-sufficient (Ghani) and independent of others, making it impossible for it to be a son to another.

Therefore, if He were a son, He must be created (Hadith). We say: Allah knows all things. Either He knows that having this son brings Him perfection and benefit, or He knows that is not the case.

• If the former is true: There is no point in time when Allah created this son except that the call (Da'i) to create this son was present before that time. Whenever the call for its creation was present beforehand, the son must have come into existence before that time, which necessitates the son being eternal (Azali), which is impossible.
• If the latter is true: It is established that Allah knows He gains no perfection or increase in divinity by having a son. If this is the case, He must not create it at any time whatsoever. This is the meaning of His saying: {And He is the Knower of all things}.

There is another aspect here: customary offspring arise from the fulfillment of desire, and the fulfillment of desire necessitates pleasure. Pleasure is sought for its own sake. If pleasure were applicable to Allah, and since it is sought for its own sake, it would necessitate that at every moment, Allah's knowledge of achieving that pleasure would compel Him to achieve it before that moment, because Allah knows all things. If this were the case, that pleasure must have existed eternally, leading to the son being eternal, which we have shown is impossible.

Thus, His being the Knower of all things, combined with His being eternal, prevents the validity of birth for Him. This is the meaning of {And He is the Knower of all things}.

We have established that affirming a son for Allah is impossible based on these two known possibilities.

As for affirming a son for Allah based on a third possibility, that is also false because it is neither conceivable nor comprehensible to the intellect. Therefore, asserting the existence of a son based on an inconceivable possibility is plunging into sheer ignorance, which is false. This is the objective of this verse. If the first and the last generations gathered to articulate a statement in this matter equal to its strength and perfection, they would be incapable of doing so. Praise be to Allah who guided us to this, and we would not have been guided had Allah not guided us.

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