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Chapter 35

The OriginatorFāṭir ( فاطر )

45 verses • revealed at Meccan

»The surah that opens with the praise of God as The Originator of the heavens and the earth. It takes its name from the word “fāṭir” (orginator), which occurs in verse 1. The surah affirms God’s power and Creation and contrasts this with the powerlessness and uselessness of the “partners” set up by the idolaters. The surah warns the idolaters of their punishment and comforts the Prophet through mention of previous messengers who were also rejected as liars. The great rewards that await believers are described.«

The surah is also known as Sole Originator, The Bringer into Being, The Creator

بِسمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحمٰنِ الرَّحيمِ

Muhammad Asad: In The Name of God, The Most Gracious, The Dispenser of Grace:

1
الحَمدُ لِلَّهِ فاطِرِ السَّماواتِ وَالأَرضِ جاعِلِ المَلائِكَةِ رُسُلًا أُولي أَجنِحَةٍ مَثنىٰ وَثُلاثَ وَرُباعَ ۚ يَزيدُ فِي الخَلقِ ما يَشاءُ ۚ إِنَّ اللَّهَ عَلىٰ كُلِّ شَيءٍ قَديرٌ

Muhammad Asad

MOST of the authorities place this surah - which derives its title from God's attribute of "Originator of the heavens and the earth" in its first verse - chronologically between surahs 25 (Al-Furqan) and 19 (Maryam): that is, about seven or eight years before the Prophet's exodus from Mecca to Medina. Another title given to it by some of the Companions and several classical commentators is Al-Mala'ikah ("The Angels"), also based on verse 1. Almost the whole of Al-Fatir deals with God's unique power to create and to resurrect, as well as with His having revealed His will through the medium of His prophets - but "only such as are endowed with [innate] knowledge stand [truly] in awe of God: [for they alone comprehend that,] verily, God is almighty, much-forgiving" (second paragraph of verse 28).
ALL PRAISE is due to God, Originator of the heavens and the earth, who causes the angels to be [His] message-bearers, endowed with wings, two, or three, or four.1 [Unceasingly] He adds to His creation whatever He wills:2 for, verily, God has the power to will anything.
  • The "wings" of the spiritual beings or forces comprised within the designation of angels are, obviously, a metaphor for the speed and power with which God's revelations are conveyed to His prophets. Their multiplicity ("two, or three, or four") is perhaps meant to stress the countless ways in which He causes His commands to materialize within the universe created by Him: an assumption which, to my mind, is supported by an authentic hadith to the effect that on the night of his Ascension (see Appendix IV) the Prophet saw Gabriel "endowed with six hundred wings" (Bukhari and Muslim, on the authority of Ibn Mas'ud).
  • I.e., the process of creation is continuous, constantly expanding in scope, range and variety.