Al-An‘ām 6:38

The issue

There are three comments regarding this verse:

A.First comment: There is a redundancy in the verse. It says “a bird that flies

with both its wings,” which is what the Arabic literally says. The verse clarifies

something that does not need to be clarified, because a bird clearly cannot fly

unless it has two wings.

Because the redundancy in the sentence, “a bird that flies with both its wings”

needed to be justified, al-Rāzī uses extreme measures to provide an answer, saying

there are several possibilities:

1.It is possible that the redundancy is for assertion.

Our Comment: The problem with this view is that redundancy here, even if

it is for assertion, disregards the linguistic taste.

2.The redundancy used in the phrase could be to clarify that the action

mentioned in the verse is actual flight. In Arabic, the term used for “flying”

might not be in reference to flight, like that of a bird. For instance, one can

say, “fly to my need,” meaning to hurry. Therefore, the phrase “with its two

wings” clarifies that the meaning is literal flight.

Our Comment: In this case, the listener should be capable of differentiating

between what is literal or abstract when talking about a bird. To assume

otherwise belittles the listener’s ability to understand.

3.This redundancy is possibly used to ensure that the reader doesn’t think that

the phrase “with both its wings” is referring to angels, so it was added to the

end of the verse.

Our Comment: Adding the term “with both its wings” will not further clarify

the idea, as the reader can still hold to the commonly held belief that an angel

flies with its wings.

B.Second comment: After the mention of animals and birds in this verse, it directly

addresses the reader, stating that the animals and birds are “a nation like to you.”

What is the similarity between humans and these animals?

On this question, al-Rāzī and al-Qurtubī make the following comments:

1. This similarity means that, just as Allah takes into account in the book all of

the concerns of the people’s condition—life span, wealth, future, happiness,

and toil—he also takes into account all these same conditions for the animals.

This position was sufficient for al-Zamakhsharī.

Our Comment: This view attributes logic to the verse, which is why

al-Zamakhsharī, a Mu‘tazilite scholar, was satisfied with it. But we do not

find this logic fits the context of the verse. The scholar is assuming something

that the verse never states.

2.When Allah says,“like you,” he is making a comparison between animals and

people—that the people will look like animals when herded together for

judgment on the Day of Judgment.

Our Comment: This interpretation does not seem to coincide with the

overall meaning of the verse and is an arbitrary interpretation because the

verse has nothing to do with the Day of Judgment.

3. All humans share at least some similar characteristics with animals; people

can attack like a lion, run like a wolf, bark like a dog, or act like a pig.

Our Comment: The verse says “a nation like you” and not “you are like them.”

The verse compares animals to humans, not humans to animals.

C.Third Comment: The verse concludes, “we have omitted nothing from the Book....”

This ending implies that the Qur’ān contains all subjects and all sciences. But

because the scientific facts alone negate the truth of this statement, some scholars

have claimed that “the Book” only refers to the Preserved Tablet. However,

because the context of the phrase clearly indicates that “the Book” refers to the

Qur’ān, al-Qurt.ubī was satisfied to make this statement: “We have left nothing of religious

issues without pointing to it in the Qur’ān”.