الْخَلَّاقُ
One of the Most Beautiful Names of Allah
Al-Khallaq
The Master Creator
Al-Khallaq is the intensive form of Al-Khaliq: Allah has created everything from nothing, copying no one. A man uses raw materials and sees what he imitates; the Creator of the heavens and the earth needs neither. Its verses are 15:86 and 36:81, where the Name comes with the All-Knowing.
Key verse
﴿إِنَّ رَبَّكَ هُوَ ٱلْخَلَّـٰقُ ٱلْعَلِيمُ﴾Surely your Lord is the Master Creator, All-Knowing.
The scholar's text
The meaning of Al-Khallaq:
Al-Khallaq is the exaggerated form of Al-Khaliq (Creator). Allah the Almighty has created everything from nothing and without copying any one in creation. However, Allah, Exalted and Sublime be He, lets man be given this Name since He says:
(So blessed be Allah, the Best of creators.) Al-Mu'minun 23:14
(Verily, your Lord is the All-Knowing Creator) Al-Hijr 15:86
(Is not He, Who created the heavens and the Earth Able to create the like of them? Yes, Indeed! He is the All-Knowing Supreme Creator.) Ya-Sin 36:81
Man can make something from everything, and he can imitate others in doing so. For instance, he uses the raw materials on earth, and he sees the things he wants to invent before him with his own eyes. Unlike man, The Creator of the Heavens and the Earth creates everything from nothing and without copying the creation of others.
(So blessed be Allah, the Best of creators.)
معنى الخلاق:
الخلاق صيغة مبالغة من الخالق. خلق الله تعالى كل شيء من العدم ودون أن يحاكي أحدا في الخلق. ومع ذلك أذن الله سبحانه وتعالى أن يوصف الإنسان بهذا الاسم إذ يقول:
(فَتَبَارَكَ ٱللَّهُ أَحْسَنُ ٱلْخَـٰلِقِينَ) المؤمنون 23: 14
(إِنَّ رَبَّكَ هُوَ ٱلْخَلَّـٰقُ ٱلْعَلِيمُ) الحجر 15: 86
(أَوَلَيْسَ ٱلَّذِى خَلَقَ ٱلسَّمَـٰوَٰتِ وَٱلْأَرْضَ بِقَـٰدِرٍ عَلَىٰٓ أَن يَخْلُقَ مِثْلَهُم ۚ بَلَىٰ وَهُوَ ٱلْخَلَّـٰقُ ٱلْعَلِيمُ) يس 36: 81
يصنع الإنسان شيئا من كل شيء، ويستطيع أن يحاكي غيره في ذلك. فهو مثلا يستعمل المواد الخام في الأرض، ويرى بعينيه الأشياء التي يريد أن يخترعها. وأما خالق السماوات والأرض فيخلق كل شيء من العدم دون أن يحاكي خلق غيره.
(فَتَبَارَكَ ٱللَّهُ أَحْسَنُ ٱلْخَـٰلِقِينَ)
The Best of Creators
The point rests on 23:14: if Allah is the Best of creators, others can be called creators in some sense. Al-Qurtubi says the same. The Best of creators is the most perfect of makers, he explains, for whoever makes a thing can be said to have created it. The word is not denied of humans in the sense of making; it is denied of them in the sense of bringing into being out of nothing. That is the comparison above exactly: a man works from raw materials and from what he sees, and Allah creates from nothing.
Arabic: فتبارك الله أحسن الخالقين
يستند هذا القول إلى آية المؤمنون: ﴿فَتَبَارَكَ ٱللَّهُ أَحْسَنُ ٱلْخَـٰلِقِينَ﴾، وقال القرطبي: «أحسن الخالقين أتقن الصانعين. يقال لمن صنع شيئا خلقه». ثم قال: «ولا تنفى اللفظة عن البشر في معنى الصنع؛ وإنما هي منفية بمعنى الاختراع والإيجاد من العدم». وهذه المقارنة نفسها: الإنسان يصنع من المواد ومما يراه، والله يخلق من العدم.
Your Lord Is the Master Creator
15:86: surely your Lord is the Master Creator, All-Knowing. Ibn Kathir reads it as a statement about the return. He is the Master Creator whom creating whatever He wills never tires, and the All-Knowing who knows the bodies that were torn apart and scattered across the earth. For al-Sa'di the two Names together reach everything that exists: the Creator of every created thing, knowing everything, so nothing within His knowledge and His creating is beyond Him.
Arabic: إن ربك هو الخلاق العليم
تقول آية الحجر: ﴿إِنَّ رَبَّكَ هُوَ ٱلْخَلَّـٰقُ ٱلْعَلِيمُ﴾، قال ابن كثير: «تقرير للمعاد، وأنه تعالى قادر على إقامة الساعة، فإنه الخلاق الذي لا يعجزه خلق ما يشاء، وهو العليم بما تمزق من الأجساد، وتفرق في سائر أقطار الأرض». وقال السعدي: «لكل مخلوق الْعَلِيمُ بكل شيء، فلا يعجزه أحد من جميع ما أحاط به علمه وجرى عليه خلقه، وذلك سائر الموجودات».
Able to Create the Like of Them
﴿أَوَلَيْسَ ٱلَّذِى خَلَقَ ٱلسَّمَـٰوَٰتِ وَٱلْأَرْضَ بِقَـٰدِرٍ عَلَىٰٓ أَن يَخْلُقَ مِثْلَهُم ۚ بَلَىٰ وَهُوَ ٱلْخَلَّـٰقُ ٱلْعَلِيمُ﴾Can the One Who created the heavens and the earth not ˹easily˺ resurrect these ˹deniers˺?” Yes ˹He can˺! For He is the Master Creator, All-Knowing.
36:81 asks: can the One who created the heavens and the earth not resurrect these deniers? Yes, for He is the Master Creator, All-Knowing. Ibn Kathir says the verse leads the mind from the creation of those vast things to the return of bodies. The like of them means the like of humans, he explains after Ibn Jarir: He will bring them back as He began them.
Arabic: بلى وهو الخلاق العليم
تسأل آية يس: ﴿أَوَلَيْسَ ٱلَّذِى خَلَقَ ٱلسَّمَـٰوَٰتِ وَٱلْأَرْضَ بِقَـٰدِرٍ عَلَىٰٓ أَن يَخْلُقَ مِثْلَهُم ۚ بَلَىٰ وَهُوَ ٱلْخَلَّـٰقُ ٱلْعَلِيمُ﴾، قال ابن كثير: «ومرشدا إلى الاستدلال على إعادة الأجساد بخلق هذه الأشياء العظيمة»، ونقل عن ابن جرير: «أي: مثل البشر، فيعيدهم كما بدأهم».
Show Me What They Created
﴿أَفَمَن يَخْلُقُ كَمَن لَّا يَخْلُقُ ۗ أَفَلَا تَذَكَّرُونَ﴾Can the One Who creates be equal to those who do not? Will you not then be mindful?
16:17 puts the question plainly: can the One who creates be equal to those who do not? Then know, al-Sa'di says, that the One alone in creating has the most right to all worship; as He is one in His creating and managing, He is one in being God. 31:11 makes it a challenge: this is Allah's creation; now show Me what those other than Him have created. If they were partners, al-Sa'di reasons, they would need a creation like His, and they have none to show.
Arabic: هذا خلق الله فأروني ماذا خلق الذين من دونه
تسأل آية النحل: ﴿أَفَمَن يَخْلُقُ كَمَن لَّا يَخْلُقُ ۗ أَفَلَا تَذَكَّرُونَ﴾، قال السعدي: «فتعرفون أن المنفرد بالخلق أحق بالعبادة كلها، فكما أنه واحد في خلقه وتدبيره فإنه واحد في إلهيته وتوحيده وعبادته». وتتحدى آية لقمان: ﴿هَـٰذَا خَلْقُ ٱللَّهِ فَأَرُونِى مَاذَا خَلَقَ ٱلَّذِينَ مِن دُونِهِۦ﴾، قال السعدي: «يلزم على هذا، أن يكون لهم خلق كخلقه، ورزق كرزقه، فإن كان لهم شيء من ذلك فأرونيه»، «ومن المعلوم أنهم لا يقدرون أن يروه شيئا من الخلق لها».
Stage by Stage in the Womb
﴿ثُمَّ خَلَقْنَا ٱلنُّطْفَةَ عَلَقَةً فَخَلَقْنَا ٱلْعَلَقَةَ مُضْغَةً فَخَلَقْنَا ٱلْمُضْغَةَ عِظَـٰمًا فَكَسَوْنَا ٱلْعِظَـٰمَ لَحْمًا ثُمَّ أَنشَأْنَـٰهُ خَلْقًا ءَاخَرَ ۚ فَتَبَارَكَ ٱللَّهُ أَحْسَنُ ٱلْخَـٰلِقِينَ﴾then We developed the drop into a clinging clot, then developed the clot into a lump ˹of flesh˺, then developed the lump into bones, then clothed the bones with flesh, then We brought it into being as a new creation. So Blessed is Allah, the Best of Creators.
23:14 traces the stages: the drop into a clinging clot, the clot into a lump of flesh, the lump into bones, the bones clothed with flesh, and then a new creation. The Prophet ﷺ gave the same stages with their timing: “a human being is put together in the womb of the mother in forty days, and then he becomes a clot of thick blood for a similar period, and then a piece of flesh for a similar period”, and after the angel writes what is decreed, “Then the soul is breathed into him” (Sahih al-Bukhari 3208, narrated by Abdullah ibn Mas'ud). The du'a below, said in prostration, ends with 23:14: Blessed be Allah, the Best of creators.
Arabic: يجمع خلقه في بطن أمه
تذكر آية المؤمنون أطوار الخلق: ﴿ثُمَّ خَلَقْنَا ٱلنُّطْفَةَ عَلَقَةً فَخَلَقْنَا ٱلْعَلَقَةَ مُضْغَةً فَخَلَقْنَا ٱلْمُضْغَةَ عِظَـٰمًا فَكَسَوْنَا ٱلْعِظَـٰمَ لَحْمًا ثُمَّ أَنشَأْنَـٰهُ خَلْقًا ءَاخَرَ﴾، وقال النبي ﷺ: «إِنَّ أَحَدَكُمْ يُجْمَعُ خَلْقُهُ فِي بَطْنِ أُمِّهِ أَرْبَعِينَ يَوْمًا، ثُمَّ يَكُونُ عَلَقَةً مِثْلَ ذَلِكَ، ثُمَّ يَكُونُ مُضْغَةً مِثْلَ ذَلِكَ»، ثم يكتب الملك ما قدر، «ثُمَّ يُنْفَخُ فِيهِ الرُّوحُ» (صحيح البخاري 3208، عن عبد الله بن مسعود). والدعاء الآتي في السجود يختم بآية المؤمنون: تبارك الله أحسن الخالقين.
From the Sunnah
a human being is put together in the womb of the mother in forty days, and then he becomes a clot of thick blood for a similar period, and then a piece of flesh for a similar period. Then Allah sends an angel who is ordered to write four things. He is ordered to write down his (i.e. the new creature's) deeds, his livelihood, his (date of) death, and whether he will be blessed or wretched (in religion). Then the soul is breathed into him.
إِنَّ أَحَدَكُمْ يُجْمَعُ خَلْقُهُ فِي بَطْنِ أُمِّهِ أَرْبَعِينَ يَوْمًا، ثُمَّ يَكُونُ عَلَقَةً مِثْلَ ذَلِكَ، ثُمَّ يَكُونُ مُضْغَةً مِثْلَ ذَلِكَ، ثُمَّ يَبْعَثُ اللَّهُ مَلَكًا، فَيُؤْمَرُ بِأَرْبَعِ كَلِمَاتٍ، وَيُقَالُ لَهُ اكْتُبْ عَمَلَهُ وَرِزْقَهُ وَأَجَلَهُ وَشَقِيٌّ أَوْ سَعِيدٌ . ثُمَّ يُنْفَخُ فِيهِ الرُّوحُ،
A du'a with this Name
اللَّهُمَّ لَكَ سَجَدْتُ وَلَكَ أَسْلَمْتُ وَبِكَ آمَنْتُ سَجَدَ وَجْهِي لِلَّذِي خَلَقَهُ وَصَوَّرَهُ فَأَحْسَنَ صُورَتَهُ وَشَقَّ سَمْعَهُ وَبَصَرَهُ تَبَارَكَ اللَّهُ أَحْسَنُ الْخَالِقِينَ
O Allah, to You I have prostrated and to You I have submitted, and in You I have believed. My face has prostrated to the One Who created it and shaped it and shaped it well, and brought forth its hearing and sight. Blessed be Allah the best of Creators
Sunan an-Nasa'i 1126, graded sahih by al-Albani: what the Prophet ﷺ said when he prostrated, as Ali ibn Abi Talib reported
Related Names
Questions about Al-Khallaq
What does Al-Khallaq mean?
Al-Khallaq is the intensive form of Al-Khaliq: Allah creates everything from nothing, copying no one.
Can a human being be called a creator?
A human being may be called a creator in the sense of making, al-Qurtubi says on 23:14, which calls Allah the Best of creators; no human brings anything into being from nothing.
Why does Al-Khallaq come with the All-Knowing?
15:86 pairs Al-Khallaq with the All-Knowing, and Ibn Kathir reads the pair as a proof of the return: He creates without tiring and knows every scattered body.