Talha Ahmad, Student Jamia Ahmadiyya UK
Duality in creation, Unity in the Creator!
An interesting observation in our universe and nature is the fascinating duality found throughout them. This duality encompasses contrasts such as life and death, male and female, and even the electron and proton. Islamic sources have also noted this peculiar and fascinating phenomenon.
At first glance, it is difficult to acknowledge the duality of the universe as so many things seemingly don’t exist in pairs, but a deeper exploration of the natural order of the universe unveils the reality of duality.
It’s important to clarify that the phenomenon of duality does not suggest any form of plurality in the Creator. While duality is observed in creation, we recognise this concept does not apply to the Creator, who is One and Unique. Hence, everything has a duality apart from God, which points to His Oneness.
Islam and duality
The topic discussed in this article is inspired by Doctor Faheem Yunus Sahib, who is the Vice President, Chief Quality Officer, Professor of Medicine and Chief of Infectious Diseases Division at the University of Maryland. He delivered a speech during Jalsa Salana UK 2023 in which he discussed some scientific miracles in the Holy Quran.
From among these miracles was the discovery of anti-matter, which relates to several verses in the Holy Quran, stating that God created everything in pairs.
For example, Allah the Almighty states in Surah Ya Sin:
سُبۡحٰنَ الَّذِیۡ خَلَقَ الۡاَزۡوَاجَ کُلَّھَا مِمَّا تُنۡۢبِتُ الۡاَرۡضُ وَمِنۡ اَنۡفُسِھِمۡ وَمِمَّا لَا یَعۡلَمُوۡنَ
“Holy is He Who created all things in pairs, of what the earth grows, and of themselves, and of what they know not.” (Surah Ya Sin، Ch.36: V.37)
Allah the Almighty also states in verse 50 of Surah adh-Dhariyat:
وَمِنۡ کُلِّ شَیۡءٍ خَلَقۡنَا زَوۡجَیۡنِ لَعَلَّکُمۡ تَذَکَّرُوۡنَ
“And of everything have We created pairs, that you may reflect.” (Surah adh-Dhariyat, Ch.51: V.50)
The Five Volume Commentary of this verse states:
“The verse implies a subtle allusion to the object of man’s creation, one of the main themes of the Surah. The verse, like several other Quranic verses states that God has created all things in pairs. There are pairs not only in animal life, but also in vegetables, and even in inanimate things. There are pairs also in spiritual things. Even heaven and earth make a pair. Unless water comes from heaven and the sun gives warmth and light to the earth there can be no vegetation. Similarly, the human soul, which has been compared to earth in the foregoing verses, can find no scope for the manifestation of its latent and inherent powers and attributes unless the light of revelation descends upon it.” (The Holy Quran with English Translation and Commentary, Vol. 5, p. 2994)
As noted earlier, it’s crucial to remember that God is not to be associated with any pair as He is the One Who has created everything and He alone is The Independent.
قُلۡ ھُوَ اللّٰہُ اَحَدٌ۔ اَللّٰہُ الصَّمَدُ
“Say, ‘He is Allah, the One; Allah, the Independent and Besought of all.’” (Surah al-Ikhlas, Ch.112: V.2-3)
Finding pairs in creation
What types of things in creation come in pairs, and why did God design them this way? How can we say everything has a pair when, at first glance, some things don’t seem to? There are many ways to explore the concept of pairs in the universe. Some pairs are obvious, like male and female, while others are more abstract and require deeper insight, such as ease and hardship. Even this forms a type of pair: some aspects of creation are visible and apparent, while others remain hidden.
Let’s focus mainly on the pairs found in the universe from a scientific perspective.
Hazrat Khalifatul Masih IVrh explained the concept of pairs in the universe and explained the meaning of the Quranic word zawjayn زوجین (pairs):
“[…] zawjayn [pairs] in one instance means a system of complementation. Everything is complementary and not complete in itself, and not independent; there is a complementary unit to everything. […] For instance, each atom in the world, in the universe, is in need of joining hands with some other, and this is what is called valency.
“Some have single valencies; some two, three, four, and so on—up to four—at the interplay of this desire to meet others and be complemented in a system of zawjayn. Similarly, divide whatever you find in the world of chemistry, of physics, […] or animal life; you will find this zawjayn system in existence.
“The scientists have delved very deep now in the secrets of existence and then have gone very deep into the sub-atomic world as well as the sub-particle world, and they find that everything is in pairs. If there are quarks, positive quarks, there are negative quarks. If there is a positive electron, there is a negative electron.” (Question and Answer Session with Hazrat Mirza Tahir Ahmadrh, 27 July 1984, www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=dtUfkXm-QaY)
One obvious type of pair Allah the Exalted has created is male and female. Allah the Almighty states in the Holy Quran:
وَاَنَّہٗ خَلَقَ الزَّوۡجَیۡنِ الذَّکَرَ وَالۡاُنۡثٰی
“And that He creates the pairs, male and female,” (Surah an-Najm, Ch.53: V.46)
He also says:
فَاطِرُ السَّمٰوٰتِ وَالۡاَرۡضِ ؕ جَعَلَ لَکُمۡ مِّنۡ اَنۡفُسِکُمۡ اَزۡوَاجًا وَّمِنَ الۡاَنۡعَامِ اَزۡوَاجًا ۚ یَذۡرَؤُکُمۡ فِیۡہِ ؕ لَیۡسَ کَمِثۡلِہٖ شَیۡءٌ ۚ وَھُوَ السَّمِیۡعُ الۡبَصِیۡرُ
“[He is] the Maker of the heavens and the earth. He has made for you pairs of your own selves, and of the cattle [also He has made] pairs. He multiplies you therein. There is nothing whatever like unto Him; and He is the All-Hearing, the All-Seeing.” (Surah ash-Shura, Ch.42: V.12)
This verse proves Allah has made us in pairs, enabling us to multiply, that is, to reproduce and support one another. With this concept revealed, God immediately clarifies that He Himself has no need for a pair and is, in fact, unique.
The Five Volume Commentary of this verse notes:
“The words, is nothing whatever like unto Him, are meant to remove a possible misunderstanding to which the sentence, ‘God has made a pair of everything,’ might have given rise, viz. that God also needs a consort to make a pair. The words signify that it is impossible to conceive of anything like God. He is far above human perception and comprehension. It is, therefore, foolish to try to find a likeness between Divine and human attributes, though the two possess some very remote and incomplete resemblance.” (The Holy Quran with English Translation and Commentary, Vol. 4, pp. 2828-29)
The Promised Messiahas also elaborates on this subject in The Philosophy of the Teachings of Islam:
“Virtue and truth and wisdom are the middle and the middle is appropriateness; in other words truth is always in the middle of two opposing falsehoods. There is no doubt that watchfulness for the proper occasion keeps a person in the middle. Keeping to the middle in relation to God means that in expounding Divine attributes one should not lean towards negating Divine attributes nor describe God as resembling material things. This is the way that the Holy Quran has adopted with reference to Divine attributes. It affirms that God sees, hears, knows, speaks; and as a safeguard against His being understood as resembling His creation it also affirms:
لَیۡسَ کَمِثۡلِہٖ شَیۡءٌ۔ فَلَا تَضۡرِبُوۡا لِلّٰہِ الۡاَمۡثَالَ
“Meaning there is nothing like unto Him; and Fabricate not similitudes concerning God. This means that there is no partner in the Being and attributes of God and that He bears no resemblance to His creatures.” (The Philosophy of the Teachings of Islam [English], pp. 101-102)
Reproduction is a key example of pairs in the universe and it is not only limited to humans. Every single living organism needs a pair. Even if it reproduces asexually, it requires a parent. Some forms of asexual reproduction in plants is due to cell division in a specific area in the plant. This is also a clear instance where we see a pair being produced; one parent cell usually splits into two daughter cells. We can see this occurring in even bacteria as they reproduce exponentially through the process of binary fission.
If we dive into even more detail, we can see that everything is made up of atoms. Now you might be wondering how atoms are in pairs?
Duality in the world of particles
Matter can be divided into, you guessed it, two! There is matter and then there is anti-matter. Every type of subatomic particle has an opposite charge, spin, or flavour particle, which is known as its anti-particle. For example, there are the commonly known electrons, protons and neutrons in an atom, but there are also their anti-particles, which are the positron (anti-electron), anti-proton, and anti-neutron, respectively.
Each type of particle has the same mass as its respective anti-particle but the charge, spin, or flavour is opposite. Charge, spin, and flavour are properties that determine what a particle is and how it behaves.
What is more interesting about this is that scientists have studied these types of particles to an extent and have discovered a phenomenon called “pair production” and “annihilation.”
Annihilation occurs when a particle collides with its corresponding anti-particle. Due to their motion, the collision results in both particles being annihilated, leaving only energy in the form of light. This light carries the total energy from both particles, including their rest energy and kinetic energy before the collision. For example, if an electron interacts with a positron, then both are annihilated and an electromagnetic wave is emitted, which has equal energy to both positron and electron rest mass energies.
Annihilation is assumed to be a “complete obliteration of an object”. When an electron and a positron (the electron’s antimatter counterpart) collide, they annihilate and disappear, giving off two gamma rays in the process. The particles appear to have vanished, and all energy is transferred to the gamma rays (photons). (Energy Wave Theory, https://energywavetheory.com/explanations/particle-annihilation/ )
Pair production is the reverse of annihilation. When a high-energy gamma ray (light) interacts with an atom, it can produce a particle and its corresponding anti-particle if it has enough energy. This energy is converted into mass, creating the particle pair. Pair production only occurs with gamma rays of very high energy!
When examining particles in more detail, we find two types of elementary particles: leptons and quarks. These are currently the most fundamental particles accepted in science, although theories like string theory suggest there could be even more basic particles, but such theories lack strong experimental proof so far.
Quarks come in pairs across three generations (up-down, charm-strange, and top-bottom), and each has a corresponding anti-particle (like the anti-up quark, anti-down quark, and anti-strange quark). Leptons also exist in generations with similar pairing. Both types of particles have positive and negative variants, contributing to the diversity of matter.
It might seem that I’m merely listing a few examples of things in existence that come in pairs, while many others do not require a pair. However, the true meaning behind these pairs in God’s creation goes beyond simply existing as two. For example, there is day and night which are two different states, the Sun and the Moon are completely different in astronomical value but both have the job of providing light to us on earth.
Duality in nature points to the fact that everything requires something other than itself for its own sustenance and for it to fulfil its purpose. It shows us that everything depends on something else, unlike Allah the Exalted and the Independent.
The reverse is also true: many things may appear as pairs, but this doesn’t mean they represent the type of pairing that Allah the Almighty is referring to.
Explaining the verse in Surah adh-Dhariyat (Ch.50: V.51) which states that God created everything in pairs, in his Tarjamatul Quran class no. 266, Hazrat Khalifatul Masih IVrh explains that though there is a relationship between the creation and the Creator, it can not be said this is a pair which the verse is talking about as the verse clearly says “of everything We have created”, so God can not be included in this. However, this does show that every type of pair that God has created ultimately has a relationship with God, as He is the One Who has created all the pairs.
This is clarified in the next verse in Surah adh-Dhariyat:
فَفِرُّوا اِلَی اللّٰہِ ؕ اِنِّیۡ لَکُمۡ مِّنۡہُ نَذِیۡرٌ مُّبِیۡنٌ
“Flee ye therefore unto Allah. Surely, I am a plain Warner unto you from Him.” (Surah adh-Dhariyat, Ch.51: V.51)
Hazrat Khalifatul Masihrh IV explains this verse shows there is no refuge but in Allah. He says that just as at times of fear humans turn to their spouse, the only “running” (in terms of finding refuge) can be towards God as only He can save man from the fear which he is inflicted in.
Then Allah the Almighty clarifies once again that He is One and has no associate:
وَلَا تَجۡعَلُوۡا مَعَ اللّٰہِ اِلٰـھًا اٰخَرَ ؕ اِنِّیۡ لَکُمۡ مِّنۡہُ نَذِیۡرٌ مُّبِیۡنٌ
“And do not set up another god along with Allah. Surely, I am a plain Warner unto you from Him.” (Surah Adh-Dhariyat, Ch.50: V.53)
The Oneness of Allah in creation
Another interesting point when we look at the universe is that though everything is created into pairs, everything points towards the Oneness of Allah. For example, if you look at a water droplet, it is shaped like a sphere which points to Oneness of the Creator. The Promised Messiahas explains this in Jesus in India:
“He created all primordial matter and particles in spherical shapes, and thus signed this inherent message in nature that, like every sphere, His own being is One. He is not subject to any dimensions. None of the expansive bodies have been created triangular. All the things God created in the beginning, the earth, the heavens, the sun and the moon, the stars, the elements, are all spherical in shape; this denotes Unity and Oneness of the Creator.” (Jesus in India [English], p. 13)
Though things have been created in pairs, they ultimately point to God’s Unity. For example, even the smallest, most fundamental components of matter are unified yet made into pairs. Atoms, which are spherical and contain the same types of subatomic particles, illustrate this unity. However, these particles rely on others to interact and fulfil their purpose.
In conclusion, everything in the universe is created with duality, and this pairing emphasises that we are all dependent on something in this universe and ultimately on our Creator Who has created us. So we should all flee to Him for all our needs, for He is the Independent and Besought of all.