Quranic verse, translation and commentary at iSerat
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Surah Al-Ikhlas — Verse 3
لَمْ يَلِدْ وَلَمْ يُولَدْ
He neither begets nor was begotten
Neither the source of offspring nor born from another
The first two verses told us that God is uniquely One and that all creatures depend on Him while He needs nothing. Now two short clauses rule out two ideas that contradict this truth: “He neither begets nor was begotten.”
For human beings, having parents and children is part of family life and can be a source of precious relationships. Each of us is born from others, and human generations continue through such ties. But God is not like created beings who arise from one generation and give rise to another. He is the source of creation, not a member of a divine family or a succession of gods.
Creating is not the same as begetting
“He does not beget” goes beyond rejecting one ordinary family relationship. It excludes the belief that God has offspring—whether someone imagines literal offspring, or gives a created being a divine status associated with sonship. Elsewhere the Quran also rejects the idea that God has taken a child.
Creation is fundamentally different from reproduction. In the world of living creatures, a child comes from parents and shares their nature. But when God creates, a part of His own reality does not break away and become another being. God creates without losing any part of Himself or producing another being of the same divine essence.
If something could be detached from God's very being, we would be imagining Him as composed of parts. This would conflict with His unique oneness and absolute self-sufficiency. And if someone were imagined as a divine child equal to God, the incomparable unity announced at the beginning would no longer be preserved.
This denial takes nothing away from the honour of prophets or angels. Whatever their exalted standing, they remain God's creatures. Nearness to Him, His mercy and His choosing of a servant do not make anyone part of His essence or a partner in divinity.
God Himself did not come from another
The second clause says: “nor was He begotten.”
Anyone who is born has not given themselves their existence in advance. Their emergence depends on beings and conditions that existed before them. God is not like that. He was not born of parents, did not separate from a prior being and needs no earlier source to make Him exist.
Understood alongside as-Samad, this negation is not simply a rejection of physical parents. It makes clear that God's own existence depends upon no prior origin. He is neither produced nor in need of a creator. What begins to exist belongs among created things, not the Self-Sufficient One upon whom they all depend.
Why does the verse mention begetting first?
In ordinary human experience, a person is born before they might later have children. The Quran reverses that sequence: first it denies that God begets, then that He was begotten.
This order can be understood in the context of the claims the Quran addresses. Attributing offspring to God was among those claims, so the verse rejects it first. The second clause then rules out any imagined parentage, ancestry or origin for God Himself. Together they deny such relationships in both directions.
Knowing the God who depends on no one
The lesson is not merely to correct one description of God. We sometimes think of Him according to the limited patterns familiar from our own lives, as though He too must depend on something else to continue existing, become complete or accomplish His purposes.
This verse reminds us not to project the limitations of creatures onto their Creator.
He loses nothing from His being by creating others and has received His own existence from no one. All can depend upon Him, while He depends upon none.
The surah's last verse completes the picture: “And no one has ever been His equal.” Its opening statement of oneness, its description of self-sufficiency and its denial of parentage all point to one truth: God cannot be placed on the same level as any created being.
Neither the source of offspring nor born from another
The first two verses told us that God is uniquely One and that all creatures depend on Him while He needs nothing. Now two short clauses rule out two ideas that contradict this truth: “He neither begets nor was begotten.”
For human beings, having parents and children is part of family life and can be a source of precious relationships. Each of us is born from others, and human generations continue through such ties. But God is not like created beings who arise from one generation and give rise to another. He is the source of creation, not a member of a divine family or a succession of gods.
Creating is not the same as begetting
“He does not beget” goes beyond rejecting one ordinary family relationship. It excludes the belief that God has offspring—whether someone imagines literal offspring, or gives a created being a divine status associated with sonship. Elsewhere the Quran also rejects the idea that God has taken a child.
Creation is fundamentally different from reproduction. In the world of living creatures, a child comes from parents and shares their nature. But when God creates, a part of His own reality does not break away and become another being. God creates without losing any part of Himself or producing another being of the same divine essence.
If something could be detached from God's very being, we would be imagining Him as composed of parts. This would conflict with His unique oneness and absolute self-sufficiency. And if someone were imagined as a divine child equal to God, the incomparable unity announced at the beginning would no longer be preserved.
This denial takes nothing away from the honour of prophets or angels. Whatever their exalted standing, they remain God's creatures. Nearness to Him, His mercy and His choosing of a servant do not make anyone part of His essence or a partner in divinity.
God Himself did not come from another
The second clause says: “nor was He begotten.”
Anyone who is born has not given themselves their existence in advance. Their emergence depends on beings and conditions that existed before them. God is not like that. He was not born of parents, did not separate from a prior being and needs no earlier source to make Him exist.
Understood alongside as-Samad, this negation is not simply a rejection of physical parents. It makes clear that God's own existence depends upon no prior origin. He is neither produced nor in need of a creator. What begins to exist belongs among created things, not the Self-Sufficient One upon whom they all depend.
Why does the verse mention begetting first?
In ordinary human experience, a person is born before they might later have children. The Quran reverses that sequence: first it denies that God begets, then that He was begotten.
This order can be understood in the context of the claims the Quran addresses. Attributing offspring to God was among those claims, so the verse rejects it first. The second clause then rules out any imagined parentage, ancestry or origin for God Himself. Together they deny such relationships in both directions.
Knowing the God who depends on no one
The lesson is not merely to correct one description of God. We sometimes think of Him according to the limited patterns familiar from our own lives, as though He too must depend on something else to continue existing, become complete or accomplish His purposes.
This verse reminds us not to project the limitations of creatures onto their Creator.
He loses nothing from His being by creating others and has received His own existence from no one. All can depend upon Him, while He depends upon none.
The surah's last verse completes the picture: “And no one has ever been His equal.” Its opening statement of oneness, its description of self-sufficiency and its denial of parentage all point to one truth: God cannot be placed on the same level as any created being.