Surah 112 · Meccan · 4 Verses
الإخلاص
SURAH AL-IKHLAS
Sincerity
Surah Al-Ikhlas's text and translation will be saved to this device. Audio files are not saved.
بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ
قُلْ هُوَ ٱللَّهُ أَحَدٌ
Say, "He is Allāh, [who is] One,2011
TransliterationQul huwa llahu ahad
ٱللَّهُ ٱلصَّمَدُ
Allāh, the Eternal Refuge.2012
TransliterationAllahu s-samad
لَمْ يَلِدْ وَلَمْ يُولَدْ
He neither begets nor is born,
Verse page →TransliterationLam yalid wa lam yulad
وَلَمْ يَكُن لَّهُۥ كُفُوًا أَحَدٌۢ
Nor is there to Him any equivalent."
Verse page →TransliterationWa lam yakun lahu kufuwan ahad
About This Surah
Surah Al-Ikhlas is a four-verse declaration of God’s absolute oneness and uniqueness. God is One, the One upon whom all depend; He neither begets nor is born, and nothing is comparable to Him. The chapter corrects attempts to imagine divine identity through ancestry, dependence, or created likeness and gives readers a concise foundation for worship directed to God alone.
Al-Ikhlas begins with a command to proclaim that God is One. Its next description, often translated as the Eternal Refuge or the Self-Sufficient One upon whom all depend, rejects the idea that divine life relies on anything beyond God.
The third verse denies begetting and being born. Divine identity is not extended through offspring and is not received from ancestry. The final verse removes every remaining comparison: nothing is equivalent or comparable to Him.
The surah’s brevity should not make its claims seem small. Each verse closes a path by which created categories might be projected onto the Creator. Read together, the verses provide a disciplined confession: oneness, complete independence, no genealogy, and no equal. The chapter supports sincere worship by clarifying whom the worshipper addresses. Its reported equivalence to one third of the Quran is a specific merit in Sahih al-Bukhari 5013; it should not be reworded to claim that reading it three times replaces reading, studying, or following the whole Quran.
Core Themes
- God’s absolute oneness
- All creation dependent on the Self-Sufficient One
- Divine identity beyond genealogy
- No created likeness or equal
Reading Guide
Read the four negations as one confession
Move from oneness to complete independence, then to the denial of genealogy and comparison. The sequence prevents a vague idea of “one” from retaining created limitations.
Keep reported merit within its wording
The hadith says the surah is equivalent to one third of the Quran. Do not turn that into a rule that three repetitions replace the whole Quran’s recitation, study, commands, or moral formation.
Key Passages
One and absolutely depended upon — 1-2
The opening joins divine oneness with complete independence and creaturely dependence. God is not one member of a class but the unique One to whom needs are directed.
No genealogy and no equal — 3-4
The final verses deny both lineage and comparison. They protect divine uniqueness from being explained through biological descent, inherited status, or resemblance to created beings. The surrounding verses define both its immediate purpose and the limits that prevent a careless or overbroad modern application.
Recitation Note
Sahih al-Bukhari 5013 reports that Surah Al-Ikhlas is equal to one third of the Quran. This pilot preserves that narrow wording and does not claim that three repetitions replace reading the entire Quran, fulfill every duty connected with it, or guarantee a separate worldly result.
Interpretation Limits
- The hadith merit does not mean that three repetitions replace the Quran’s full content, study, or obligations.
- Translation choices for al-Samad are explanatory approximations and do not exhaust the Arabic term.
- The surah should not be used to caricature or insult named religious communities.