Al-Qur'an Surah At-Tur Verse 35

Or were they created without anything being before them (or out of something different than the basic material of all creation, so that they know things others do not), or are they the creators (of themselves, so that they can maintain themselves and are free in their acts)?

Amatul Rahman Omar

Have they been created without a (creative) agency (or purpose)? Or are they their own creators?

English Literal

Or they were created from without a thing, or they are the creators?

Faridul Haque

Have they not been created from some source, or are they themselves the creators?

Hamid S. Aziz

Or were they created out of nothing, or are they themselves the creators?

Hilali & Khan

Were they created by nothing, or were they themselves the creators?

Maulana Mohammad Ali

Then let them bring a saying like it, if they are truthful.

Mohammad Habib Shakir

Or were they created without there being anything, or are they the creators?

Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall

Or were they created out of naught? Or are they the creators?

Muhammad Sarwar

Have they been created from nothing or are they themselves their own creators?

Qaribullah & Darwish

Or, were they created out of nothing? Or, were they their own creators?

Safi-ur-Rahman al-Mubarakpuri

Or were they created by nothing Or were they themselves the creators

Wahiduddin Khan

Were they created out of nothing, or are they their own creators?

Talal Itani

Or were they created out of nothing? Or are they the creators?

Tafsir jalalayn

Or were they created out of nothing?, [that is] without a Creator. Or are they the creators?, of themselves. It makes no sense for a created thing to have no creator, nor can a thing that will cease to existent [have the power to] create. There must be a Creator of them, and that is God, the One, so why do they not affirm His Oneness and believe in His Messenger and His Book?

Tafseer Ibn Kathir

Affirming Tawhid and annulling the Plots of the Idolators. This is the position where Tawhid of Allah's Lordship and Divinity are affirmed.

Allah the Exalted said,

أَمْ خُلِقُوا مِنْ غَيْرِ شَيْءٍ أَمْ هُمُ الْخَالِقُونَ

Or were they created by nothing? Or were they themselves the creators?

Allah asks them, were they created without a maker or did they create themselves? Neither is true. Allah is the One Who created them and brought them into existence after they were nothing.

Al-Bukhari recorded that Jubayr bin Mut`im said,

"I heard the Prophet recite Surah At-Tur in Al-Maghrib prayer and when he reached this Ayah,

أَمْ خُلِقُوا مِنْ غَيْرِ شَيْءٍ أَمْ هُمُ الْخَالِقُونَ

أَمْ خَلَقُوا السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالاَْرْضَ بَل لاَّ يُوقِنُونَ

أَمْ عِندَهُمْ خَزَايِنُ رَبِّكَ أَمْ هُمُ الْمُصَيْطِرُون

Or were they created by nothing? Or were they themselves the creators? Or did they create the heavens and the earth? Nay, but they have no firm belief. Or are with them the treasures of your Lord? Or are they the tyrants with the authority to do as they like?

I felt my heart would fly away."

This Hadith is collected in the Two Sahihs using various chains of narration.

Jubayr bin Mut`im went to the Messenger of Allah after the battle of Badr to ransom the captured idolators. At that time, he was still an idolator. Hearing the Prophet recite this Ayah was one of the reasons that he later embraced Islam.

Allah the Exalted said,

أَمْ خَلَقُوا السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالاَْرْضَ بَل لاَّ يُوقِنُونَ