سُورَةُ الإِخۡلَاصِ
Surah 112 - Al-Ikhlaas
Sincerity
- 4 verses
- Juz 30
- Page 604 of the Mushaf
Al-Ikhlaas holds four verses and speaks of Allah alone. The first carries the order to speak, then an answer in one word: he is one. The second adds a further name, the one turned to for every need and who depends on nothing. The last two proceed by subtraction: he does not father, he is not fathered, and nothing is his equal. Two affirmations, then three denials. In Arabic the word that closes the first verse also closes the last, shutting the text on what it set down at the start.
The main parts
The text of the surah
بِسْمِ ٱللَّهِ ٱلرَّحْمَٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ قُلْ هُوَ ٱللَّهُ أَحَدٌ
Say, "He is Allah, [who is] One,
ٱللَّهُ ٱلصَّمَدُ
Allah, the Eternal Refuge.
لَمْ يَلِدْ وَلَمْ يُولَدْ
He neither begets nor is born,
وَلَمْ يَكُن لَّهُۥ كُفُوًا أَحَدٌۢ
Nor is there to Him any equivalent."
What is surah Al-Ikhlaas about?
Of Allah alone. None of the four verses mentions an event, a people or a rule. The text sets out two names first, then three refusals: no offspring, no origin, no equivalent. Nothing else is treated anywhere in it.
How is surah Al-Ikhlaas built?
In two halves of two verses. The first sets down two names, the second takes three things away: offspring, origin, equal. The four verses rhyme on the same sound, and none runs past five words in Arabic.
What does surah Al-Ikhlaas say about the oneness of Allah?
It states it in the first verse, in a single word. The denials that follow make it precise by setting aside what would contradict it: offspring, an origin, a like. The text does not argue and does not compare; it posits, then it subtracts.
How does surah Al-Ikhlaas end?
With the last of the denials: no one is found to be his measure. In Arabic this fourth verse ends on the same word as the first, bringing the surah back to its starting point without adding anything.
Why is surah Al-Ikhlaas called that?
“Al-Ikhlaas” points to giving something over to one alone; it is rendered as “exclusive devotion”. The word appears in none of the four verses. Unlike “Al-Falaq” or “An-Naas”, the title therefore takes up no term of the text: it points to what the text treats.
How many verses does surah Al-Ikhlaas have?
Surah Al-Ikhlaas has 4 verses. It stands at number 112 in the order of the Mushaf, which holds 114.
The Arabic text is that of the Mushaf. The summary, the outline and the answers on this page describe the text and how it is built: they are not religious commentary.