S8
Pairs and the diversity of tongues and colours
51:49 says God created "two mates" of all things, and 30:22 counts "the diversity of your languages and your colors" among His signs: variety itself is something to notice.
وَمِن كُلِّ شَىْءٍ خَلَقْنَا زَوْجَيْنِ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَذَكَّرُونَ٤٩
Transliteration: wamin kulli shayin khalaqnā zawjayni laʿallakum tadhakkarūna
And of all things We created two mates; perhaps you will remember.
وَمِنْ ءَايَٰتِهِۦ خَلْقُ ٱلسَّمَٰوَٰتِ وَٱلْأَرْضِ وَٱخْتِلَٰفُ أَلْسِنَتِكُمْ وَأَلْوَٰنِكُمْ ۚ إِنَّ فِى ذَٰلِكَ لَـَٔايَٰتٍ لِّلْعَٰلِمِينَ٢٢
Transliteration: wamin āyātihi khalqu l-samāwāti wal-arḍi wa-ikh'tilāfu alsinatikum wa-alwānikum inna fī dhālika laāyātin lil'ʿālimīna
And of His signs is the creation of the heavens and the earth and the diversity of your languages and your colors. Indeed in that are signs for those of knowledge.
Translation: Saheeh International
"And of His signs is the creation of the heavens and the earth and the diversity of your languages and your colors. Indeed in that are signs for those of knowledge" (30:22), Sura al-Rūm, Meccan, in a run of "and of His signs" verses (30:20–25).
A related verse: "And from all of the fruits He made therein two mates" (13:3). And one that gives diversity a purpose: "O mankind, indeed We have created you from male and female and made you peoples and tribes that you may know one another. Indeed, the most noble of you in the sight of Allah is the most righteous of you" (49:13), Medinan.
Key words
Zawjayn ("two mates"): a pair, two things that belong together; used of male and female, but also of any matching or complementary two. Ikhtilāf alsinatikum wa-alwānikum: the difference of your tongues and your colours. Lil-ʿālimīn (30:22): "for those of knowledge"; al-Jalālayn notes it can also be vowelled lil-ʿālamīn, which it glosses as "rational creatures".
Note on wording
Ibn Kathir's translator renders 51:49 as "And of everything We have created pairs"; Saheeh has "And of all things We created two mates".
Classical tafsir
Ibn Kathir on 51:49. "all the created are in pairs, the heaven and earth, night and day, sun and moon, land and sea, light and darkness, faith and disbelief, death and life, misery and happiness, Paradise and Fire", "in addition to the animals and plants". And "that you may remember": "know that the Creator, Allah, is One without partners". For him the pairs are complementary opposites across all creation, and their purpose is to point to the One who has no pair.
Al-Jalālayn on 51:49. The pairs are "two kinds such as male and female", with examples including "heaven and earth sun and moon" and "light and darkness".
Ibn Kathir on 30:22. He lists the languages he knew: "some speak Arabic, and the Tatars have their own language", and the Georgians, Romans, Franks, Berbers, Ethiopians, Indians, Persians, Slavs and others, and adds: "Only Allah knows the variety of languages spoken among the sons of Adam." On colours: "the difference of their colors mentioned here refers to their appearance": "from the time that Allah created Adam, and until the Hour begins", "Each face has its own characteristics and does not look like another".
Al-Jalālayn on 30:22. The final phrase "may be vocalised either as li'l-'ālamīna or li'l-'ālimīna", meaning "either rational creatures or people of knowledge respectively".
What they did not say. Neither reads "pairs" as a law of physics; neither treats the variety of colours as a ranking of peoples. Ibn Kathir reads "colours" as every face being different.
How it works
- "Of all things… two mates": pairs in living things. Established Many living things reproduce through two sexes, but not all: many organisms reproduce without a partner (for example, by dividing). So "pairs" in the biological sense is very common, not universal. (No named source on asexual reproduction was read; this is textbook biology.)
- "The diversity of your languages". Established Ethnologue (27th edition, 2024) counts "a total of 7,164 living languages worldwide".
- "And your colors". Established Jablonski and Chaplin (2000) found that "skin reflectance is strongly correlated with absolute latitude and UV radiation levels". Their explanation: dark, "highly melanized skin protected against UV-induced photolysis of folate" (the breakdown by sunlight of a vitamin needed in pregnancy), while lighter skin away from the tropics allowed "UVB-induced synthesis of previtamin D3". The range of human skin colour "represents a compromise solution to the conflicting physiological requirements of photoprotection and vitamin D synthesis".
Points of awe
Ibn Kathir, in the fourteenth century, already wrote that "Each face has its own characteristics and does not look like another".
Reflection
Two verses, two kinds of variety. 51:49 sees the world built in pairs. Ibn Kathir's list moves from the sky to the soul: heaven and earth, night and day, land and sea, light and darkness, life and death, faith and disbelief. Each needs the other to be understood. And the verse says why we are shown this: "perhaps you will remember" (51:49). In a world of pairs, the Creator alone has no pair.
30:22 turns to us. Our languages and colours differ, and the verse calls that a sign. Ibn Kathir notices that no two faces, from Adam to the Hour, are the same. He knew a dozen languages by name; today we count thousands. "Only Allah knows the variety."
Then 49:13 gives that variety a purpose: "that you may know one another". Difference is for meeting, not for ranking. The same verse closes every door to pride of birth or colour: "the most noble of you in the sight of Allah is the most righteous of you".
So the reader is asked two things. To look at the pairs, and remember that God is One. And to look at the faces and tongues of other people, and see in their difference not a threat, but a sign and an invitation to know them.
يَٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلنَّاسُ إِنَّا خَلَقْنَٰكُم مِّن ذَكَرٍ وَأُنثَىٰ وَجَعَلْنَٰكُمْ شُعُوبًا وَقَبَآئِلَ لِتَعَارَفُوٓا۟ ۚ إِنَّ أَكْرَمَكُمْ عِندَ ٱللَّهِ أَتْقَىٰكُمْ ۚ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ عَلِيمٌ خَبِيرٌ١٣
Transliteration: yāayyuhā l-nāsu innā khalaqnākum min dhakarin wa-unthā wajaʿalnākum shuʿūban waqabāila litaʿārafū inna akramakum ʿinda l-lahi atqākum inna l-laha ʿalīmun khabīrun
O mankind, indeed We have created you from male and female and made you peoples and tribes that you may know one another. Indeed, the most noble of you in the sight of Allah is the most righteous of you. Indeed, Allah is Knowing and Acquainted.
Translation: Saheeh International
Questions readers ask next
Does "pairs" mean everything has male and female?
Al-Jalālayn begins with "male and female", but both commentators read it far more widely: Ibn Kathir lists night and day, land and sea, life and death, faith and disbelief.
What does the diversity of languages show?
For Ibn Kathir, the range of human languages and faces is itself a sign that "only Allah knows" in full (30:22). Today about 7,164 living languages are counted (Ethnologue).
Why do human skin colours differ?
Mainly because of sunlight. Jablonski and Chaplin (2000) found skin reflectance "strongly correlated" with UV levels: darker skin protects folate; lighter skin allows vitamin D to be made where sunlight is weaker.
Is diversity a reason for pride or division?
49:13 says the opposite: peoples and tribes exist "that you may know one another", and "the most noble of you in the sight of Allah is the most righteous of you".
Did the Quran predict antimatter?
No. That is a modern reading of "pairs"; the commentators read the word as complementary opposites and male and female (see the honest notes).
Sources
- Saheeh International — 51:49, 30:22, 49:13, 13:3.
- Ibn Kathir, Tafsir (abridged English), and Tafsīr al-Jalālayn (English), on 51:49, https://surahquran.com/tafsir-english-aya-49-sora-51.html, and on 30:22, https://surahquran.com/tafsir-english-aya-22-sora-30.html.
- Ethnologue, 27th edition (21 February 2024) — number of living languages, as read.
- Nina G. Jablonski & George Chaplin, "The evolution of human skin coloration", Journal of Human Evolution 39(1):57–106 (2000), abstract via Penn State, https://pure.psu.edu/en/publications/the-evolution-of-human-skin-coloration/.
- Sultan Bashir Mahmood (Robin Yasin Qusab is named in the end note), "The Holy Qur'an and Dirac's Theory of Pairs", The Fountain, issue 68 (March–April 2009), https://blog.fountainmagazine.com/2009/issue-68-march-april-2009/the-holy-quran-and-diracs-theory-of-pairs — the popular modern claim.
- Ethnologue