What does “tammat kalimatu rabbika” mean (Qur’an 6:115)?
Tammat kalimatu rabbika means that the word of your Lord has come to its full measure, and the phrase opens a verse in Surah al-An‘am: “The word of your Lord is complete in truth and justice. None can alter his words, and he is the All-Hearing, the All-Knowing.” [Qur’an 6:115]. In Arabic it is وَتَمَّتْ كَلِمَتُ رَبِّكَ صِدْقًا وَعَدْلًا. Word by word, tammat grows from the root t-m-m, which carries a thing arriving at its full measure with nothing left owing, so Arabic uses the verb both for something becoming complete and for a promise coming to pass; kalima is a word or an utterance, and in the Qur’an it widens to cover a decree spoken and a promise given; rabbika means “of your Lord”. The four spellings people type, tammat kalimatu rabbika and wa tammat kalimatu rabbika and wa tammat kalimatu and watammat kalimatu rabbika, all land on the same words, and the wa is the “and” that joins this verse to the one before it.
Ṣidqan wa ʿadlan, “in truth and justice”, says what the completeness consists of. Commentators have long divided the pair between the two things a revelation does: ṣidq belongs to what it reports, so its accounts of the unseen and of what has passed hold true, and ʿadl belongs to what it commands, so its rulings fall justly on those who carry them. The verse before it sets up the question this phrase answers, “Shall I seek a judge other than God, when it is he who has sent down to you the Book, fully explained?” (6:114), which closes “so do not be among the doubters”. The verse after it names what happens to anyone who goes looking for a fuller authority somewhere else, “If you obey most of those on earth, they will lead you away from the path of God.” (6:116).
The second half of the verse keeps wide company. Surah al-An‘am had already said it of the messengers who were denied, “Nothing can alter the words of God.” (6:34); Surah Yunus makes it the ground of good news for the friends of God, “There is no changing the words of God” (10:64); and Surah al-Kahf gives it to the Prophet ﷺ as a reason to keep reciting, “None can alter his words, and you will find no refuge apart from him.” (18:27). The opening half has company of its own, and there the same verb reads as a promise arriving. Surah al-A‘raf uses it of the deliverance of the Children of Israel, “The beautiful word of your Lord was fulfilled for the Children of Israel because they endured with patience.” (7:137), and Surah Hud uses it of the opposite outcome, “And the word of your Lord is fulfilled” (11:119). One verb carries both, which is why translators render 6:115 sometimes as a word made complete and sometimes as a word brought to pass.
Commentators differ over what kalimat rabbika names in this verse. One reading takes it as the Qur’an itself, the Book described in 6:114 as sent down and fully explained, so the verse says of the revelation that it has arrived complete and that no hand can reach it. Another reading takes the word more widely as God’s decree and promise, the sense it plainly carries in 7:137 and 11:119, so the verse says that what God has spoken about how things will go has come to pass and stands beyond reversal. The transmitted readings also differ here between a singular, kalimatu, and a plural, kalimātu, and the sense moves little either way, since a word that covers a whole revelation and a word that covers one decree are the same word counted differently. Both readings are old and both are held by respected commentators. A knowledgeable scholar you trust can take you through the tafsir if you want to see how each one is argued.
Recited today, the phrase settles what you are standing on. The word you have been given is already whole, and nobody holds a pen that can reach it. Surah al-An‘am puts the two together in a single breath, the completeness and the safety from alteration, and then names God as the All-Hearing and the All-Knowing, which is to say that the one whose word cannot be changed is also the one who hears you now.
📖 Source: Qur’an 6:34; 6:114–116; 7:137; 10:64; 11:119; 18:27
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