وَمِنْ ءَايَٰتِهِۦٓ أَنْ خَلَقَ لَكُم مِّنْ أَنفُسِكُمْ أَزْوَٰجًا لِّتَسْكُنُوٓا۟ إِلَيْهَا وَجَعَلَ بَيْنَكُم مَّوَدَّةً وَرَحْمَةً إِنَّ فِى ذَٰلِكَ لَـَٔايَٰتٍ لِّقَوْمٍ يَتَفَكَّرُونَ
Wa min āyātihi an khalaqa lakum min anfusikum azwājan li-taskunū ilayhā wa jaʿala baynakum mawaddatan wa raḥmah, inna fī dhālika la-āyātin li-qawmin yatafakkarūn
"And of His signs is that: He created for you spouses from among yourselves — that you may warm to them and come to rest; and He placed love and mercy between you. In that there are surely signs for a people who think."
| Reading | What min anfusikum means |
|---|---|
| 1 | Of the same kind — the spouse was created of the human kind; not of another kind |
| 2 | From within your own species — from your stock, from among you |
Both readings are transmitted; I do not impose a preference. Both come out at the same place, and this is what the sentence is doing: the spouse is mentioned not as a being brought in from outside but as being of the same kind.
The root was analysed in detail by way of sakīna at al-Fatḥ 48/4. I do not repeat it here. The core recorded there: to stop, to become motionless, to settle in a place. Sukūn — the ceasing of movement; maskan — not "house" but the place where movement ends.
The verb sakana is normally used with the particle fī or bi: sakana fi'd-dār — he dwelt in the house. Here, however, ilā comes: *li-taskunū ilayhā — "that you may come to rest towards them".
Ilā is a particle of direction. That is, the sentence says not "come to rest in them" but "come to rest towards them".
I record this as my own reading, and its ground is the choice of particle: had it been built with fī, the spouse would have been named as a place — somewhere to settle into. Built with ilā, a turning is being described: coming to rest is the subsiding of movement in a direction. And the lexicographers record this difference of particle; I draw no ruling beyond this point.
And the link with sakīna in al-Fatḥ is worth recording: there the same root was used for a coming to rest sent down into the heart — under the conditions of war. Here the same root is used for the relationship between two people.
| Place | Word | Where the rest is |
|---|---|---|
| al-Fatḥ 48/4 | Sakīna | In the heart — sent down |
| al-Rūm 30/21 | Li-taskunū ilayhā | In the relationship — turned towards |
The same root does the same work in two different places: the subsiding of movement. This is an overlap between sūras that can be verified.
مَوَدَّة — root: و-د-د. The root has been treated in many places in the series — at al-Mumtaḥana 60/7 (an yajʿala baynakum wa bayna'lladhīna ʿādaytum minhum mawadda), at al-Shūrā 42/23 (al-mawaddata fi'l-qurbā), in al-Burūj (al-Wadūd). I do not repeat it here.
The core of the root: to love — and the joining of love with wanting. The lexicographers generally record the difference between wudd and ḥubb thus: ḥubb is the feeling itself, wudd the feeling in its outwardly expressed, wanted state. The verb wadda means "he wanted, he desired" as much as "he loved". I transmit this distinction as the lexicographers record it.
رَحْمَة — root: ر-ح-م. The root was analysed in al-Fātiḥa and in many places in the series; the core: رَحِم — the womb, the shelter in the mother's belly. That is, mercy carries in its root a place where a thing is protected and made to grow. I do not repeat it here.
| Mawadda | Raḥma | |
|---|---|---|
| The picture in the root | Turning towards, wanting | Sheltering, protecting |
| Its direction | A mutual attraction | Can also run from the strong towards the weak |
| What it depends on | The attractiveness of the other | The need of the other |
| When it operates | While closeness is there | Also when closeness has weakened |
I record this as my own reading, and its ground is the pictures the two roots themselves carry: mawadda is a mutual attraction and rests on there being a certain desirability in the other. Raḥma, however, answers not to desirability but to need — the womb in its root shelters a being from which nothing is expected.
That is, the mentioning of the two words together is not a repetition but a completion: the first builds the attraction side of the relationship, the second its durability side. What holds the relationship when the attraction weakens is the second.
And the verb must be recorded: wa jaʿala baynakum — "He placed between you". Neither word is attributed to one of the two parties but to what is between them. I record this as an observation about the word order: the sentence does not say "He created you full of love"; it speaks of something placed into the relationship itself.
And the closing must be recorded: li-qawmin yatafakkarūn — for a people who think. The first closing of the series is given to the nearest relationship.