Surah Ya-Sin 36:36
سُورَةُ يسٓ · Meccan · Verse 36 of 83
سُبْحَـٰنَ ٱلَّذِى خَلَقَ ٱلْأَزْوَٰجَ كُلَّهَا مِمَّا تُنۢبِتُ ٱلْأَرْضُ وَمِنْ أَنفُسِهِمْ وَمِمَّا لَا يَعْلَمُونَ
Translation
Glory be to Him who created all the pairs of things that the earth produces, as well as themselves and other things they do not know about.
English translation: M.A.S. Abdel Haleem.
Meaning and reflection
'Glory to the One who created all pairs, from what the earth grows, from themselves, and from what they do not know.' Ibn Ashur and al-Biqa'i note the sweep: everything comes coupled, plants, human beings, and realities beyond our knowledge, and this universal pairing quietly points to the One who is Himself beyond all pairing, the single Ahad who has no counterpart. Ask yourself: the whole created order runs on twos, male and female, positive and negative, matter and antimatter I'm only beginning to name. Everything I know needs its pair to exist. The verse turns that fact into worship: the One who paired all things is Himself unpaired, needing no other. When I feel my own incompleteness, my need for a 'pair', does it point me toward the only One who is complete alone?
Grounded in classical tafsir: Ibn Ashur, al-Biqa'i, al-Saadi.
Topics that discuss this verse
Surah Ya-Sin 36:36 is discussed in 7 study guides on Maani. Each guide gathers the key verses, Arabic words and lessons of one Quranic topic.
Reflect on this verse
Open Surah Ya-Sin 36:36 in Maani to reflect on it through the Five Lenses: its wording, its context, what it means for you, its connections across the Quran and its lessons, grounded in classical tafsir.