Are there more than one Creator?

Question: In the 14^th verse of Surah Mominoon the Almighty Allah says: So blessed be Allah, the best of the Creators. When the Almighty Allah calls Himself the “best of Creators” does it mean that there exist other Creators also?

Answer: From the aspect of Arabic language the root Khalq (creation) occurs in three meanings:

1. To evaluate or estimate something.

2. To transform a thing into something else. For example to make tools from iron.

3. To bring something from non-existence into existence. That is, to bestow existence to something that did not exist before.

Without any doubt the third meaning is special to the Almighty Allah and the words of Creator and inventor. Apart from Him these terms are not used to anyone else. So much so that the first and the second are applicable even to human beings. In the verses of the Holy Quran the root Khalq is used in the first or the second meaning. For example it is mentioned regarding Isa ibn Maryam (a.s.):

“And when you determined out of clay a thing like the form of a bird by My permission.”

Here it denotes changing one thing into another.

The verse in question has also used in the second meaning or the first and since in those meanings there can be many creators it is correct to state that He is the best of Creators.

Why is Charity compared to an ear having 700 grains?

Question: It is mentioned in Surah Baqarah:

“The parable of those who spend their property in the way of Allah is as the parable of a grain growing seven ears (with) hundred grains in every ear…”

In spite of the fact that we have inquired of the agricultural scientists that if we have a piece of land which is prepared from every aspect. It is irrigated properly and birds also do not pick up its grain and the seed is also not destroyed in it and no trouble descends on it and the soil is also of a good quality and all the conditions of growing a crop on it is fulfilled then how much wheat can be produced from a stalk of wheat? They replied: thirty or at the most forty and nothing more than this seen till now.

Thus how does the Almighty say that it is like the ear which gives 700 grains whereas if Allah had desired He could have given more.

Answer: Two points have to be kept in mind in the reply to this question.

Firstly the above quoted verse does not mention wheat or any other grain, rather the word Habb - grain is used. And that the one posing the question has given the examples of wheat, which is such a derivation that is not even mentioned in the Holy Quran. Thus if we find a grain whose one grain gives seven hundred grains it would be sufficient to justify the above verse.

If by chance there are some seeds, one of which is maize if it is planted at fixed place it is possible that one grain would produce seven grains (7 ears of hundred grains each, i.e. or more could be obtained.)

It is said that bajra (millet) also produces many grains.[1]

Secondly even if for the sake of argument we consider the above verse there is another possibility and it is that when two things are compared to each other. There is a distinction of the compared thing which is not in the thing with which it is compared though from the aspect of the actual topic of discussion there is similarity in it. For example it is said:(His face is like the moon which does not set) or he is a sun that never sets or he is tall as the date palm, though we know that moon always sets and there is sunset also and there is no tree on the earth that walks. Therefore, such comparisons imply that for example his face is fresh and luminous like the moon and only the difference is that there is decline for the moon but that person has no decline or his body has the qualities of tall stature of a date palm but his distinction is that he can walk and the date palm cannot walk. Many such kinds of examples are found in literature.

In addition to poetic examples the Quran itself has such comparisons and similes. For example when the Holy Quran gives the examples of pure and best things it says it is like a tree that bears fruits.[2]

Although there is no tree that bears fruits all the year roundor even if there is such a tree would be very rare. Thus the implication is that this tree of goodness has a distinction over all the other trees and it is that there is no autumn for this tree and neither is there any restriction on it for bearing fruits.

The Holy Quran also gives the examples of the light of Allah and says:

His light is as a niche in which is a lamp… [Surah Nur 24:35]

In the same verse He says:

 … the oil whereof almost gives light though fire touch it not.

Though any oil, however pure it may be, does not light up without fire. Actually it is a distinction which is given as a simile.

The verse regarding which question is posed in that too the growth of the seed of Charity seventy fold is a distinction which the seed of Charity has over all the seeds of the world.

Son of Nuh (a.s.) in the Holy Quran

Question: Hazrat Nuh (a.s.) was commanded by the Almighty to build an ark and Allah informed him that water would spread all over the surface of the earth and the infidels will drown, but his women and sons will remain safe. One of his sons Canaan, did not care for his teachings on account of his idolatry and did not board the ark. At last he drowned in the flood. During this Hazrat Nuh (a.s.) supplicated his Lord and said:

My Lord! Surely my son is of my family, and Thy promise is surely true… [Surah Hud 11:45]

The Almighty Allah addressed him in the following four sentences: What is the aim of those sentences?

1. He is not of your family — why?

2. He is the doer of other than good deeds — why?

3. Ask not of Me that of which you have no knowledge — why?

4. I admonish you lest you may be of the ignorant. [Surah Hud 11:46]

Question: What was Nuh (a.s.) ignorant of?

Answer: The first sentence “He is not of your family” does not denote that he is not your biological son because it was absolutely true that he was the biological son of Nuh (a.s.) and was born from his loins. Rather the implication is that he is not your spiritual son. Because the son has to be like the father physically as well as spiritually. But the son of Nuh (a.s.) was not so. Because his spiritual relationship with his father had been severed. The second sentence implies that he did not have a good character because his character was so unrighteous that he was evil personified.

And in the third sentence when it is said: Do not ask Me of that which you do not know. It implies that one should not derive conclusions from that which one does not know.

Now as for the fourth point: What Nuh (a.s.) was ignorant of?

And the Almighty Allah had informed him of this. It was that he was thinking that the Almighty had promised that He would save his son unconditionally but later he realized that this promise was for those people who had not severed their spiritual relationship with Nuh (a.s.).

Footnotes:

[1] In Tafseer Minhajus Sadiqeen this reply is indicated under the commentary of the above verse
[2] Surah Ibrahim 15:25