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Surah Ash-Shuraa — 42:11

فَاطِرُ ٱلسَّمَـٰوَٰتِ وَٱلْأَرْضِ ۚ جَعَلَ لَكُم مِّنْ أَنفُسِكُمْ أَزْوَٰجًا وَمِنَ ٱلْأَنْعَـٰمِ أَزْوَٰجًا ۖ يَذْرَؤُكُمْ فِيهِ ۚ لَيْسَ كَمِثْلِهِۦ شَىْءٌ ۖ وَهُوَ ٱلسَّمِيعُ ٱلْبَصِيرُ

Faatirus samaawaati wal ard; ja'ala lakum min anfusikum azwaajanw wa minal an'aami azwaajany yazra'ukum feeh; laisa kamislihee shai'unw wa Huwas Samee'ul Baseer

Originator of the heavens and the earth. He made for you mates from among yourselves, and pairs among the cattle — multiplying you thereby. Nothing is like him, and he is the All-Hearing, the All-Seeing.

Reflection

The denial of likeness lands immediately after the most ordinary image of resemblance there is: mates made from among yourselves, pairs among the cattle, each kind reproducing its own. Laysa ka-mithlihi doubles the comparison, kāf on top of mithl, and grammarians have read the doubling either as emphasis or as a second layer of distance. The verse then closes on hearing and seeing, which is where the argument over the attributes has always begun.

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