خلق

Core meaning

To give form according to a measure: to make a thing exist with its proportions. Creating what lives belongs to God alone; said of a human, the gesture remains that of giving form, and it can be applied to falsehood.

Uses

1. خَلَقَ, يَخْلُقُ → "to create" : to make exist according to a measure: the heavens, the earth, the human being, every thing.

   • «وَخَلَقَ كُلَّ شَىْءٍۢ» — "and He created every thing" (6:101)
   • «مِن نُّطْفَةٍ خَلَقَهُۥ فَقَدَّرَهُۥ» — "From a drop He created him and measured him" (80:19)

2. خَالِق, ٱلْخَلَّٰق → "the Creator", "the Great Creator" : the agent noun, which the formula extends to all things.

   • «خَٰلِقُ كُلِّ شَىْءٍۢ» — "Creator of all things" (6:102)
   • «إِنَّ رَبَّكَ هُوَ ٱلْخَلَّٰقُ ٱلْعَلِيمُ» — "Your Guardian is indeed the Great Creator, the All-Knowing" (15:86)

3. خَلْق → "creation" : what has been created, and the act itself.

   • «هَٰذَا خَلْقُ ٱللَّهِ» — "This is God's creation" (31:11)

4. أَخْلُقُ, تَخْلُقُ (human subject) → "to create" : to give form to clay, God alone giving life to what has been formed.

   • «أَنِّىٓ أَخْلُقُ لَكُم مِّنَ ٱلطِّينِ كَهَيْـَٔةِ ٱلطَّيْرِ» — "I create for you, from clay, the form of a bird" (3:49)

5. تَخْلُقُونَ إِفْكًا, ٱخْتِلَٰق → "to create", "a creation out of whole cloth" : to give form to falsehood.

   • «وَتَخْلُقُونَ إِفْكًا» — "and you create a distortion" (29:17)
   • «إِنْ هَٰذَآ إِلَّا ٱخْتِلَٰقٌ» — "this is nothing but a creation out of whole cloth" (38:7)

6. خُلُق → "character" : the inner form, fashioned in each one.

   • «وَإِنَّكَ لَعَلَىٰ خُلُقٍ عَظِيمٍۢ» — "And you are surely of an immense character" (68:4)
   • «إِنْ هَٰذَآ إِلَّا خُلُقُ ٱلْأَوَّلِينَ» — "this is only the character of the ancients" (26:137)

7. خَلَٰق → "allotment" : the measured share that falls to each, enjoyed in this life or lacking in the last life.

   • «فَٱسْتَمْتَعُوا۟ بِخَلَٰقِهِمْ» — "they enjoyed their allotment" (9:69)

Evidence from the text

The gesture is form given according to a measure, not mere bringing into the world: "From a drop He created him and measured him" (80:19). The text makes it the dividing line between God and what is associated with Him: "so show Me what those besides Him have created" (31:11).

God is not the only subject of the verb. Issa creates from clay the form of a bird, but it is "with God's permission" (3:49) that it becomes a bird; and humans also create falsehood (29:17, 38:7). What God alone does is to create what lives.

The same gesture names the inner form, خُلُق, character (68:4, 26:137), and the share measured out to each, خَلَٰق, the allotment one enjoys in this life (9:69) or lacks in the last life (2:102, 2:200, 3:77).

Distinctions

• جعل — to institute: to give a status or a function to what already exists
• صنع — to fabricate: the work made by hand
• فطر — to create originally: to make arise a first time
• برء — to give existence

See also

صور (to give form)