Ornaments of Gold
IN THE NAME OF GOD, THE MOST GRACIOUS, THE DISPENSER OF GRACE[43:12]
And He it is who has created all opposites.
And He [it is who] has provided for you all those ships and animals whereon you ride,

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* v.12 : Lit., “all pairs.” Some commentators regard the term azwāj as synonymous in this context with “kinds” (Baghawī, Zamakhsharī, Baydāwī, Ibn Kathīr): i.e., they take the above phrase to mean no more than that God created all kinds of things, beings, and phenomena. Others (e.g., Tabarī) see in it a reference to the polarity evident in all creation. Ibn ‘Abbās (as quoted by Rāzī) says that it denotes the concept of opposites in general, like “sweet and sour, or white and black, or male and female”; to which Rāzī adds that everything in creation has its complement, “like high and low, right and left, front and back, past and future, being and attribute,” etc., whereas God – and He alone – is unique, without anything that could be termed “opposite” or “similar” or “complementary.” Hence, the above sentence is an echo of the statement that “there is nothing that could be compared with Him” (112:4).