Surah Al-Ikhlas: Meaning, Translation and Transliteration

Surah Al-Ikhlas, "Sincerity", is four short verses, and it is the Quran's clearest statement of who Allah is. He is One. He is as-Samad, the one everything depends on while He depends on nothing. He has no child and no parent, and nothing is equal to Him.

Most Muslims know it by its opening words, Qul huwallāhu aḥad. It is usually one of the first surahs a child learns, and the Prophet ﷺ said it is equal to a third of the Quran.

This article gives the full surah in Arabic, a transliteration and the English translation, then goes through its meaning verse by verse.

The full surah

قُلۡ هُوَ ٱللَّهُ أَحَدٌ ٱللَّهُ ٱلصَّمَدُ لَمۡ يَلِدۡ وَلَمۡ يُولَدۡ وَلَمۡ يَكُن لَّهُۥ كُفُوًا أَحَدُۢ

Transliteration

1. Qul huwallāhu aḥad
2. Allāhuṣ-ṣamad
3. Lam yalid wa lam yūlad
4. Wa lam yakun lahū kufuwan aḥad

English translation (Saheeh International)

Say, "He is Allah, [who is] One, Allah, the Eternal Refuge. He neither begets nor is born, nor is there to Him any equivalent." (112:1-4)

If you learned to read the Quran in the IndoPak script, here is the same surah as it appears in a South Asian mushaf:

قُلۡ هُوَ اللّٰهُ اَحَدٌۚ اَللّٰهُ الصَّمَدُۚ لَمۡ يَلِدۡۙ وَلَمۡ يُوۡلَدۡۙ وَلَمۡ يَكُنۡ لَّهٗ كُفُوًا اَحَدٌ

You can read and listen to Surah Al-Ikhlas with its translation, or read it with the Urdu translation.

About the surah

Al-Ikhlas is the 112th surah of the Quran, with 4 verses, in the 30th juz. Most scholars say it is Meccan; some say it is Medinan. You'll also see it called Surah Ikhlas, Surah Ahad, or Qul Huwallahu Ahad.

Its name doesn't appear anywhere in it. Ikhlāṣ means making something pure and sincere, and scholars give two reasons for the name: the surah describes Allah purely, with nothing mixed in, and whoever believes in what it says has made their faith sincere to Him.

Why it was revealed

Ubayy ibn Kaʿb reported that the idolaters said to the Prophet ﷺ: "Tell us the lineage of your Lord." Allah revealed Qul huwallāhu aḥad in answer (Jamiʿ al-Tirmidhi 3364). Al-Albani graded this report hasan, while al-Tirmidhi himself preferred a version that doesn't mention Ubayy, so scholars differ on its chain.

The question makes sense in its setting. The Arabs knew a person by their tribe and ancestors, and their idols had families: some of them called the angels "daughters of Allah". The answer is that Allah has no lineage at all. He isn't descended from anyone, and no one is descended from Him.

Verse 1: He is Allah, One

قُلۡ هُوَ ٱللَّهُ أَحَدٌ

Say, "He is Allah, [who is] One. (112:1)

Qul, "say", is a command, as in Al-Falaq, An-Nas and Al-Kafirun. You aren't only being told about Allah; you are being given the words to declare it.

Aḥad means "one", but it is stronger than the ordinary word for one, wāḥid. Aḥad describes a oneness that has no partner, no equal and no parts. Allah isn't one of a set, or one made up of pieces. He is One in His being, His names and attributes, and His right to be worshipped.

Verse 2: Allah, the Eternal Refuge

ٱللَّهُ ٱلصَّمَدُ

Allah, the Eternal Refuge. (112:2)

Aṣ-Ṣamad appears only here in the Quran, and it is hard to put into one English word. Translators write "the Eternal Refuge", "the Self-Sufficient Master" or "the Eternal, the Absolute". The early commentators gave several meanings, and they fit together:

• The one everyone turns to in need. All of creation depends on Him for everything, and they go to Him with their requests.
• The master who is perfect in every quality. Ibn ʿAbbas is reported to have explained it as the master whose mastery, knowledge, wisdom and power are complete.
• The one who has no hollow. Some of the early generation said ṣamad means solid, without an inside: He doesn't eat or drink and has no need of anything.
• The one who remains. He is the Living who doesn't die, after all creation has passed away.

Taken together: everything needs Allah, and Allah needs nothing.

Verse 3: He neither begets nor is born

لَمۡ يَلِدۡ وَلَمۡ يُولَدۡ

He neither begets nor is born. (112:3)

This verse denies two things. Allah has no children, which answers those who said the angels were His daughters, those who said ʿUzayr was the son of God, and those who said it of ʿIsa (Jesus). And He has no parent: He wasn't born, so He has no beginning.

A child is a part of its parent and of the same kind, and a parent comes before the child. Neither can be true of the One who is aḥad and ṣamad. In a ḥadīth qudsī, Allah says that claiming He has a child is an insult to Him, "while I am the One, the Self-Sufficient Master, I beget not, nor was I begotten, and there is none equal to Me" (Sahih al-Bukhari 4974).

Verse 4: Nothing is equal to Him

وَلَمۡ يَكُن لَّهُۥ كُفُوًا أَحَدُۢ

Nor is there to Him any equivalent." (112:4)

Kufuwan means an equal, a match or a peer. Nothing in creation is like Him in His being or His attributes, and there is no rival who could share His power or His worship. The same idea comes in 42:11: "There is nothing like unto Him, and He is the Hearing, the Seeing."

The surah begins with aḥad and ends with aḥad. The first says He is One; the last says nothing is one like Him.

Why it equals a third of the Quran

Abu Saʿid al-Khudri reported that a man heard someone reciting Qul huwallāhu aḥad over and over, and the next morning he told the Prophet ﷺ about it, as if he thought it was too little. The Prophet ﷺ said: "By the One in whose hand my soul is, it is equal to a third of the Quran" (Sahih al-Bukhari 5013).

He also asked his Companions: "Is any of you unable to recite a third of the Quran in one night?" They found that hard, and he told them that Allāhul-wāḥiduṣ-ṣamad is a third of the Quran (Sahih al-Bukhari 5015; Sahih Muslim 811). Once he gathered people and said, "I will recite a third of the Quran to you", then recited this surah (Sahih Muslim 812).

Scholars commonly explain it by the Quran's subjects. Broadly, the Quran teaches about three things: rulings and laws, stories and the promise of what is to come, and who Allah is. Al-Ikhlas is entirely about the third, and it covers it completely.

It doesn't mean that reciting it three times replaces reading the whole Quran. Its reward is great, but the rest of the Quran still has to be read, understood and lived by.

"Your love for it will take you to Paradise"

ʿAʾishah reported that the Prophet ﷺ sent a man to lead an expedition, and in every prayer he led he ended his recitation with this surah. When they came back and told the Prophet ﷺ, he said, "Ask him why he does that." The man said: "Because it is the description of the Most Merciful, and I love to recite it." The Prophet ﷺ said: "Tell him that Allah loves him" (Sahih al-Bukhari 7375; Sahih Muslim 813).

Anas told of a similar man at the mosque of Quba who recited it in every rakʿah before another surah. When the Prophet ﷺ asked him why, he said, "I love it", and the Prophet ﷺ replied: "Your love for it will admit you into Paradise" (Jamiʿ al-Tirmidhi 2901).

Abu Hurayrah said the Prophet ﷺ heard a man reciting it and said, "It is due." Asked what was due, he said: "Paradise" (Jamiʿ al-Tirmidhi 2897; Sunan al-Nasaʾi 994).

When to recite it

• Before sleeping. Every night, the Prophet ﷺ would join his palms, blow into them and recite Al-Ikhlas, Al-Falaq and An-Nas, then wipe his hands over as much of his body as he could, starting with his head and face. He did this three times (Sahih al-Bukhari 5017).
• Morning and evening. He told ʿAbdullah ibn Khubayb to recite Qul huwallāhu aḥad and the two surahs of refuge three times in the morning and three times in the evening, "and they will suffice you against everything" (Sunan Abi Dawud 5082; Jamiʿ al-Tirmidhi 3575).
• In the two sunnah rakʿahs before Fajr. He recited Al-Kafirun in the first and Al-Ikhlas in the second (Sahih Muslim 726).
• In a dua. The Prophet ﷺ heard a man pray: "O Allah, I ask You because I bear witness that You are Allah, there is no god but You, the One, as-Samad, who neither begets nor is born, and to whom no one is equal." He said the man had called on Allah by His greatest name, by which, when He is asked, He gives, and when He is called on, He answers (Sunan Abi Dawud 1493; Jamiʿ al-Tirmidhi 3475).

Word by word

Arabic	Transliteration	Meaning
قُلۡ	qul	say
هُوَ	huwa	He
ٱللَّهُ	Allāhu	(is) Allah
أَحَدٌ	aḥad	the One
ٱلصَّمَدُ	aṣ-ṣamad	the Eternal Refuge
لَمۡ يَلِدۡ	lam yalid	He does not beget
وَلَمۡ يُولَدۡ	wa lam yūlad	and He is not begotten
وَلَمۡ يَكُن	wa lam yakun	and there is not
لَّهُۥ	lahū	to Him
كُفُوًا	kufuwan	an equal
أَحَدُۢ	aḥad	any one

Living by Surah Al-Ikhlas

• Know what you're saying. Most of us learned these four verses as children. Read them again slowly, with their meaning, the next time you pray.
• Ask Allah first. He is as-Samad, the one everyone turns to. Bring your needs to Him before you take them to people.
• Make it part of your day. Three times morning and evening, and three times into your palms before sleep, with Al-Falaq and An-Nas.
• Use it in your dua. Open your request with the words of this surah, as the Companion did.
• Love it. The Prophet ﷺ said that love for this surah leads to Paradise. It is easy to love four verses that describe your Lord.

Open Surah Al-Ikhlas to read and listen to it with its translation.