27وَهُوَ الَّذي يَبدَأُ الخَلقَ ثُمَّ يُعيدُهُ وَهُوَ أَهوَنُ عَلَيهِ ۚ وَلَهُ المَثَلُ الأَعلىٰ فِي السَّماواتِ وَالأَرضِ ۚ وَهُوَ العَزيزُ الحَكيمُMuhammad AsadAnd He it is who creates [all life] in the first instance, and then brings it forth anew:1 and most easy is this for Him, since His is the essence of all that is most sublime in the heavens and on earth,2 and He alone is almighty, truly wise.Although this statement is phrased in almost exactly the same words as in verse 11 above (as well as in 10:4), it evidently has here a more general purport, relating not only to man and man's individual resurrection but to the creation and constant re-creation of all life.Primarily, the term mathal denotes a "likeness" or "similitude", and hence is often used in the Qur'an (e.g., in the next verse) in the sense of "parable". Occasionally, however, it is synonymous with sifah, which signifies the intrinsic "attribute", "quality" or "nature" of a thing, concept or living being (cf. the reference to "the nature of Jesus" and "the nature of Adam" in 3:59). With reference to God, who is "sublimely exalted above anything that men may devise by way of definition" (see 6:100 and the corresponding note 88), the expression mathal clearly points to a quality of being entirely different from all other categories of existence, inasmuch as there is "nothing like unto Him" (42:11) and "nothing that could be compared With Him" (112:4): hence, the rendering of mathal as 'essence" is most appropriate in this context.