Qurtubi:

59:24. "Hu is Allah, Al-Khāliq (The Creator), Al-Bāri’ (Inventor of the Living), Al-Musaw-wir (the Bestower of Forms)":

In this verse Al-Khāliq means the absolute, sole giver of Divine fore-ordainment or predestination or fate/destiny. Al-Khāliq is the all-knower of everything prior to its existence vis-à-vis the Divine Knowledge. So Hu does not wait for something to come into existence in order that Hu observes it in order to gain knowledge about it; the Al-Khāliq attribute of Hu is the certainty of Hu's knowledgeof all things about the object including its predestination prior to its creation.

Al-Khāliq, in the above sense of the meaning, is the first primordial stage of an entity to become an object.

Ibn Al-Hisar said: "Al-Khāliq means to create something when there was nothing or it was nothing, and to give it its predestination prior to its creation".

Abu-Bakr Ibn al-Arabi said:

7:11. "It is We who created you": Informing of the trajectory of existence from Adam (Non-being) to Wujud (Being). Please see:

http://www.untiredwithloving.org/haqqi_light.html#light

7:11. "(It is We who) Gave you shape": This verse does ‘Ishārat (Points) to the shaping of the innermost intellect, psychology, emotions, etc..., exclusively for the human being not including the other creatures.

Al-Bāri’ (Inventor, Inventor of the living): With the letter Hamza (at its end), this word reads as the inventor i.e.who first created fire, light or soil and from them created living beings. With Hamza the word renders the inventor of anything that is created from the soil i.e. linguistically taking the roots of this word from the word Barr as in Barr & Bahr (Land and Sea).

Al-Musaw-wir: This is the Muzhir (A conduit/portal through which some objects come to be) of shapes, forms, colors, dimensions and so on. Allah is the only Muzhir (Conduit/Portal) for objects to take different forms/shapes and attributes so they become discernable from each other. Had this Al-Musaw-wir not been there, the objects would have been in existence but they would have been indiscernible.

Al-Hisar stated: "Al-Musaw-wir does the last stage of the objectification after the primordial creation of the predestination and invention of the living aspects, the formation into discernable forms takes place."

Ibn Arabi stated: "Our scholars understand Al-Musaw-wir in four ways:

1.    Al-Ladhi (That Which) has given the genesis of all things : the attribute of discern-ability through shapes, forms, colors, dimensions and so on.
2.    Al-Musaw-wir causes things to be similar to each other and these similarities are parts of Hu’s creation.
3.    The Synthesizer of complex-shaped objects. (With sub-parts all in different shapes fitting into each other)
4.    Al-Musaw-wir is Al-Ladhi (That Which) taking each object towards its final limits of creation. (Creation is a process extending from the other universe to Here and Al-Musaw-wir is the Creator of the final stages of the creation.)".

Al-Khatābi stated: "Al-Musaw-wir is Al-Ladhi (That Which) generates all objects into different forms for the purpose of the inter-recognition/differentiation between species. (For example we can tell apart an apple from an orange and the recognition is due the work of Al-Musaw-wir.)

Dara: When we behold the different stages of the fetus in the womb, we clearly see the handiwork of Al-Musaw-wir, indeed these stages of the processes are telltale indications of Allah’s creation; these processes point us towards the existence of Allah.


© 2006-2002,  Dara O. Shayda, Hind Rifai M.D.