36. Surah Ya Sin (Mecca 41)

The Quranic Text & Ali’s Version:

سُبْحَانَ الَّذِي خَلَقَ الْأَزْوَاجَ كُلَّهَا...   

36:36. Glory to Allah, Who created in pairs all things,

C3981. The mystery of sex runs through all creation,-in man, in animal life, in vegetable life, and possibly in other things of which we have no knowledge.

Then there are pairs of opposite forces in nature, e.g., positive and negative electricity, etc. The atom itself consists of a positively charged nucleus or proton, surrounded by negatively charged electrons.

The constitution of matter itself is thus referred to pairs of opposite energies.

... مِمَّا تُنبِتُ الْأَرْضُ وَمِنْ أَنفُسِهِمْ وَمِمَّا لَا يَعْلَمُونَ ﴿٣٦﴾

that the earth produces, as well as their own (human) kind and (other) things of which they have no knowledge.

Asad’s Version:

36:36 Limitless in His glory is He who has created opposites in whatever the earth produces, and in men's own selves, and in that of which [as yet] they have no knowledge. 18

[[ Asad’s note - 18 Lit., "who has created all the pairs out of whatever the earth produces, and out of themselves, and out of that of which they have no knowledge" : a reference to the polarity evident in all creation, both animate and inanimate, which expresses itself in the existence of antithetic and yet complementary forces, like the sexuality in human beings, animals and plants, light and darkness, heat and cold, positive and negative magnetism and electricity, the positive and negative charges (protons and electrons) in the structure of the atom, and so forth. (It is to be borne in mind that the noun zawj denotes both "a pair" and "one of a pair", as explained in note 7 on 13:3.) The mention of "that of which they have no knowledge" evidently relates to things or phenomena not yet understood by man but potentially within the range of his comprehension: hence my interpolation, between brackets, of the words "as yet". ]]

Yuksel’s Version:

36:36 Praise be to the One who created all pairs from what the earth sprouts out and from themselves, and from what they do not know.