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ʾinnamā ʾamruhū ʾidhā ʾarāda shayʾan ʾan yaqūla lahū kun fa-yakūnu
All His command, when He wills something, is to say to it ‘Be,’ and it is.
— Ali Quli Qarai
36Yā-SīnيسVerse 82 of 83
Ya-Sin36. Yā-Sīnيس
Yā Sīn
Ya Sin
MeccanVerse 82 of 83
36Yā-SīnيسVerse 82 of 83
Ya Sin
All His command, when He wills something, is to say to it ‘Be,’ and it is.
— Ali Quli Qarai
Surah Ya-Sin - Verses 82-83
82. “His command, when he intends anything, is only to say to it ‘Be’, so it is.”
83. “So glory be to Him, in Whose hand is the domination of everything, and unto Whom you shall be returned.”
In the creation of existence, Allah needs neither a means nor any help, nor anyone who removes the barriers. This holy verse is an emphasis upon what was said in the former verses. It is an emphasis on this fact that for His Will and Power, every creation is easy. It is the same for Him to create the lofty skies and the earth, or that He creates a small insect. The verse says:
Everything depends on His only single command, and about the One Who has such a Power there is no room of doubt that He can give life to the dead. It is evident that the command of Allah, here, is not a command in expression, and also the Arabic phrase /kun/ (Be) is not a phrase that states by utterance, because neither has He utterance nor is He in need of expressions, but the purpose is His Will upon the direct creation of something; and the application of the word /kun/ (Be) is for the sake that there is not a shorter, smaller and quicker than this one in consideration.
Yes, as soon as His intention comes to something, that thing comes into being. In other words, when Allah intends something, it will immediately come into being, so that there is no distance between ‘His Will’ and the existence of the things. Therefore, the application of ‘command’, ‘saying’ and the phrase: ‘Be’ all are an explanation for the subject of creation and making men understand His Power, and, as we said before, the command in expression, utterance and the word containing ‘B’ and ‘E’ are not necessary. All of them indicate the rapid existence of the things after the Will of Allah. He does not need any utterance and words.
And again in other more clear words, there are no more than two stages in the deeds of Allah: the stage of Will, and the stage of creation. In the abovementioned verse, the second stage has been referred to as ‘command’, say, and the phrase ‘Be’. How beautifully Amir-ul-Mu’mineen Ali (as) says in one of his sermons:
“When He intends to create something He says ‘Be’ and there it is, but not through a voice that strikes (the ears) is that call heard. His speech is an act of His creation. His like never existed before this. If it had been created it would have been the second god.” 15
In other words, every call needs an addressee, and when a thing has not been existed, how does Allah addresses it by the phrase ‘Be’? Is a non-existent thing addressable? This very meaning has been mentioned in some other verses of the Qur’an. For instance, Surah Al-Baqarah, No. 2, verse 117 says:
In the next verse, which is the last verse of Surah Ya-Sin, in a general conclusion on the subject of Origin and Resurrection it ends beautifully this discussion, where it says:
Regarding to the fact that the Arabic word /malakut/ is derived from /mulk/ in the sense of ‘government and ownership’ the additional Arabic letters ‘waw’ and ‘ta’ in the Qur’anic form of /malakut/ are for emphasis and exaggeration. Then the concept of the verse is such: the unconditioned sovereignty and ownership of everything is in the hand of Allah, and such a Lord is far from any inability, and, in this case, giving life to the dead and quickening the rotten bones and their scattered dust will not bring any difficulty for Him, since certainly all of you will return to Him, and the Resurrection is true.
Footnotes