Surah Al-Ikhlas (112)

Al-Ikhlas means "Sincerity" or "Pure monotheism". It is surah 112. It has 4 verses. It tells us who Allah is.

1. قُلْ هُوَ اللَّهُ أَحَدٌ Qul huwa llaahu aḥad Say: He is Allah, One.

2. اللَّهُ الصَّمَدُ Allaahu ṣ-ṣamad Allah, the One everyone turns to when they need something.

3. لَمْ يَلِدْ وَلَمْ يُولَدْ Lam yalid wa lam yuulad He has no child, and He is no one's child.

4. وَلَمْ يَكُن لَّهُ كُفُوًا أَحَدٌ Wa lam yakun lahuu kufuwan aḥad And no one is like Him.

The little lesson: Allah is One. He needs no one, and everyone needs Him. Nothing is like Him. When you need something, you can ask Allah for it.

Did you know? The Prophet ﷺ said this surah is worth a third of the Qur'an. (Bukhari 5013)

Memorisation tip: verses 1 and 4 end with the same word, "aḥad". Count the verses on your fingers: 1, 2, 3, 4!

Understanding Surah Al-Ikhlas

1. Explanation It is called "Al-Ikhlaas", sincerity, because whoever believes in it makes their faith pure: they worship only Allah, without associating anything with Him. • Verse 1: "Say": Allah asks the Prophet ﷺ, and us with him, to say it clearly. Allah is One (aḥad): He alone deserves to be worshipped, there is no god but Him. • Verse 2: Aṣ-Ṣamad: the Master who is perfect in all His qualities, to whom every creature turns for its needs. He Himself needs no one. • Verse 3: He has no child and no parents. Everything that is born has a beginning and an end; Allah has always existed and always will. • Verse 4: nothing in His creation is equal or similar to Him: not kings, not stars, not anything we can imagine.

2. Lessons to learn • I know Allah better through His names: Al-Aḥad (the One), Aṣ-Ṣamad (the One everyone turns to). • I ask only Allah for what only He can give: healing, success, rain, forgiveness. • I never compare Allah to anything: nothing is like Him. • I love this surah and recite it often. A companion recited it in every rak'a because it describes Allah; the Prophet ﷺ said: "Tell him that Allah loves him." (Bukhari 7375, Muslim 813) [À VÉRIFIER : numéros]

3. To remember • Allah is One; everyone needs Him, He needs no one. • He has no child and no parents, and nothing is like Him. • This belief is called tawḥiid: it is the foundation of Islam.

4. The message of the surah Al-Ikhlas presents Allah as He is: One, perfect, free of all need, without equal. Believing this with all our heart is the foundation of our faith.

Source: Al-Mukhtasar fi tafsir al-Qur'an (English translation), with well-known points from the tafsirs of Ibn Kathir and As-Sa'di.