إِنَّمَآ أَمْرُهُۥٓ إِذَآ أَرَادَ شَيْـًٔا أَن يَقُولَ لَهُۥ كُن فَيَكُونُ
Innamaa amruhooo izaaa araada shai'an ai-yaqoola lahoo kun fa-yakoon
when He wills something to be, His way is to say, “Be”- and it is!
indeed, when he wills a thing, his command is only to say to it, "Be," and it is.
Creation costs God nothing but the word, which is the answer this surah gives to a man who asked who could revive bones once they had crumbled. Arabic puts the second verb in the indicative rather than the subjunctive, so the phrase reports what happens instead of expressing a purpose; nothing stands between the command and the thing. Theologians have long asked whom the word addresses when the thing does not yet exist, and the question is left open.