Overview (Verse 189)

All Created From One Soul

The sūrah then begins a new drive to re-emphasize the question of God’s oneness. It starts first with a story which describes the initial deviation within the human mind from believing in God’s oneness to associating partners with Him. This story serves as a model for the deviation of the Arab idolaters from the faith of their first father, the Prophet Abraham. They are then put face to face with their own practices and the deities they associate with God. That all this is false and ludicrous is instantly apparent. Then God’s Messenger is directed to challenge those pagan Arabs and the deities they worship, declaring at the same time, that, for his part, he believes in God alone, his patron and protector. It is He who has created you all from a single soul, and out of it brought into being its mate, so that he might incline with love towards her. When he has consorted with her, she conceives a light burden, which she carries with ease. Then, when she grows heavy, they both appeal to God, their Lord: “Grant us a goodly child and we will be truly grateful.’(Verse 189)

This whole drive explains that once people start to adopt deviant ideas and move away from believing in, and worshipping God alone, their foolishness and deviation will know no limit, and they can no longer think and reflect properly. We see how deviation that starts on a small scale takes people far away from the truth of the right path.

It is He who has created you all from a single soul, and out of it brought into being its mate, so that he might incline with love towards her. When he has consorted with her, she conceives a light burden, which she carries with ease. Then, when she grows heavy, they both appeal to God, their Lord: “Grant us a goodly child and we will be truly grateful.” (Verse 189)

It is the pure nature with which all human beings are born. By nature, they turn to God, acknowledging that He is their only Lord, in situations of fear and hope alike. The example given here for human nature begins with the origin of creation and the make-up of couples and families: “It is He who has created you all from a single soul, and out of it brought into being its mate, so that he might incline with love towards her.” (Verse 189)

It is thus a single soul and a single nature, although it has different functions for the male and the female. These differences also serve as a means to make a man incline with love towards his wife and find comfort with her. This is the Islamic outlook on the nature of man and the role of marriage. It is a complete, integrated and honest outlook stated by this religion over fourteen centuries ago when other religions that had deviated from the right path used to consider the woman as the root of human misery. She was looked on as a curse, an impurity and a tool for seduction that man should guard against as much as he could. Pagan beliefs continue even today to consider the woman as little more than an article at home, or, at best, a servant who is not to be given any status at all.

The original purpose of the meeting of a human couple is to provide love, comfort, and a settled happy life, which provides an ideal setting for the rearing of young children. It is in such a happy and loving environment that a new human generation is prepared to take over the task of promoting and adding to human civilization. The meeting of a human couple is not meant only to satisfy a fleeting desire or give a temporary pleasure. Nor is it made the basis of a quarrel, or a stage for a conflict between rules and specializations, or for a duplication of such rules and specializations. Ignorant communities, past and contemporary, have often fallen into such traps.

The story then begins, right at the first stage: “When he has consorted with her, she conceives a light burden, which she carries with ease.” (Verse 189) The Qur’ān employs a highly refined expression, particularly in the Arabic text, when it describes the initial relationship between a married couple, “When he has consorted with her.” It selects such fine expressions to provide, and to impart refinement to the meeting itself so that it is not felt as merely physical. This gives human beings an impression that their approach to their physical desire has a human element that distinguishes it from the rough and physical form of animals. Conception is described as “light” in its initial stage, when a mother carries it with ease, practically unnoticed.

The second stage is then described: “Then, when she grows heavy, they both appeal to God, their Lord: ‘Grant us a goodly child and we will be truly grateful.’” (Verse 189) Now that the pregnancy is ascertained, it gives great hopes to the parents-to-be. They now pin their hopes that the newborn will be healthy, pretty, cute, etc., bringing into reality all that parents wish to have in their children when they are still in the embryonic stage. With such hopes, pure human nature is awakened, and it turns to God acknowledging that He is the only Lord, and appealing to Him to bestow His grace. This they do because they truly feel that God is indeed the only source of strength, blessings and grace in the whole universe. Hence, they make their heartfelt appeal “to God, their Lord: ‘Grant Us a goodly child and we will be truly grateful.’” (Verse 189)