Question
Hello. My name is Johnny Thompson, and I am very interested in the Qur’an as well as Islam. my question is on ayah number 51:49 where it states “And of everything we have created pairs, so they ye be mindful of Allah” I’ve emailed a lot of people on this ayah, but not many people have been able to give me and clear answers or anything. Well my question is that its saying that Allah created a sexual pair to everything or just in general a pair or in general everything in the world is in opposites for example (sexual/asexual, black/white, night/day). I also read Dr. Zakir Naiks book on a .PDF file, “The Qur’an and Modern Science: Conflict or Conciliation”, however it did not go into detail much, but it did say that this ayah is talking about other things than living organisms such as humans, animals, and the plants etc. That it was talking about I think it said non-living things I think that was what he wrote in his book if I recall correctly.
The second thing is that i also downloaded Dr. Zakir Naiks lecture on “The Qur’an and Modern Science: Conflict or Conciliation” but it did not speak about this either, so I thought I might want to email you instead. I also emailed a couple of people (Imams) on this subject of this one ayah, so here are some of the responses:
As-Salamu `alaykum:
The ayah that I am having a problem with is Ayah, 51:49 “And of everything We have created pairs, so that you may remember (the Grace of Allah).”
And my question was that could you give me the literal translation of this ayah.
Answer:
{And everything we have created in opposites / double varieties / contrasting pairs, so that you may, perhaps, remember.}
End of Answer.
Another thing is that ayah 36:36 states: Glory is to Him Who has created all the pairs of that which the earth produces, as well as of their own(human) kind (male and female), and of that which they know not.
I was reviewing this ayah, and so I was wondering what it means because some other imams I asked referred me to this ayah also when trying to explain ayah 51:49. I believe one of them stated that the first part was talking about other things instead of sexual pairs, just in general all the opposites, the second part of the ayah speaks about the sexual part of life, and the last about things we don’t know about. Another Imam I think interpreted the first part of the ayah as dealing with the plants (Glory is to Him Who has created all the pairs of that which the earth produces), but I’m not sure, anyways thank you for your time.
Thanks.
Answer
The Qur’anic reference to ‘creation in pairs’ is actually a reference to the fact that every phenomenon in this world, whether relating to living things or not, is created and designed in such a way that if taken independently, it remains incomplete from one aspect or the other. Every thing is complemented only when it is studied in combination with its other complementary ‘half’.
In the referred verse of the Qur’an man is reminded of the Day of Judgment from the particular aspect of the division of various phenomena in complementary pairs. Individual parts of such pairs become meaningful only when the pair is seen as a whole, but when each individual part is studied as an independent entity, they remain incomplete. Seen from this perspective, it should be clear that the referred verse of the Qur’an actually implies that the life of this world is as incomplete, when seen independent of the life hereafter as is the male species without the female species, or the earth without the skies or the or thirst without water etc.
The translation of this verse, in my opinion, should be:
We have created everything is complements, so that you be reminded [of the complement of the life of this world – the hereafter]. (Al-Zaariyaat 51: 49)
I hope this helps. If any further clarification is required on the verse, please do let me know.
Regards,
Moiz Amjad
November 11, 2001