Al-Ikhlas
الإخلاص
قُلْ هُوَ ٱللَّهُ أَحَدٌ ﴿١﴾ ٱللَّهُ ٱلصَّمَدُ ﴿٢﴾ لَمْ يَلِدْ وَلَمْ يُولَدْ ﴿٣﴾ وَلَمْ يَكُن لَّهُۥ كُفُوًا أَحَدٌ
Translation
Say, 'He is Allah, the One. Allah, the Eternal Refuge. He neither begets nor is born, nor is there to Him any equivalent.'
Tafsir (Commentary)
Surah Al-Ikhlas (The Purity of Faith) is arguably the most important theological statement in the Qur'an. The Prophet Muhammad said it is 'equivalent to one-third of the Qur'an' (Sahih al-Bukhari 5015), because the Qur'an's content can be divided into three themes — theology, law, and narrative — and this surah encapsulates the entirety of Islamic theology in four verses. 'Ahad' (One) denotes absolute, unqualified oneness — not numerical 'one' (wahid) but unique oneness. 'As-Samad' (the Eternal Refuge) means the one upon whom all creation depends while He depends on nothing. 'He neither begets nor is born' directly addresses and negates both the Christian doctrine of divine sonship and the pagan Arabian belief in divine offspring.
Context of Revelation
Revealed in Mecca in response to pagans who asked the Prophet Muhammad to describe God. It became the definitive Islamic statement on monotheism and is recited daily by Muslims worldwide.