يَا أَيُّهَا النَّاسُ اتَّقُوا رَبَّكُمُ الَّذِي خَلَقَكُمْ مِنْ نَفْسٍ وَاحِدَةٍ وَخَلَقَ مِنْهَا زَوْجَهَا وَبَثَّ مِنْهُمَا رِجَالًا كَثِيرًا وَنِسَاءً وَاتَّقُوا اللَّهَ الَّذِي تَسَاءَلُونَ بِهِ وَالْأَرْحَامَ إِنَّ اللَّهَ كَانَ عَلَيْكُمْ رَقِيبًا١
O people! Take as a shield your Lord Who created you from one being. The same stock from which He created the man He created his spouse, and through them both He caused to spread a large number of men and women. O people! Regard Allah with reverence in Whose name you appeal to one another, and (be regardful to) the ties of relationship. Verily, Allah ever keeps watch over you. (Surah al-Nisa (4), Verse 1)
NUMBER 1: In the first verse of the chapter of The Women (al-Nisāʾ), a chapter which speaks about many of our societal rights and responsibilities, Allah addresses humanity with the phrase “يَا أَيُّهَا النَّاسُ” – “O humanity!” as He wants to address everyone generally, to know that this topic transcends religion, colour, and all other differentiators, not just Muslims.
Allah begins by reminding us to have taqwā or an active consciousness and awareness of Him in our lives because through this, we will be in a better position to fulfill the societal obligations to those around us.
Allah then goes on to remind us that He is the One who created all of us – black, white, brown, yellow, etc. and that we all come from one source and so any thoughts of racial supremacy or discrimination make absolutely no sense, since we all come from ONE being.
Our father and mother are one – Adam and Eve, peace be upon them both. From these initial two, the verse goes on to show us that from them, all of humanity has endured until the present day and will continue until the end of time.
In order to drive home the point of our inter-connected lives and relationships, God once again repeats the order to have taqwā and reminds us that we must also have this God-consciousness in regards to our womb-relatives. This shows us the importance which the Quran places about maintaining family ties such that God takes an oath by the womb-relatives, after taking an oath upon His own self.
We also understand that our taqwā must extend to everyone – all of the children of Adam – as we are all from “one womb” – Eve – and that we must regard one another as being children of the same parents.
In closing, the Almighty reminds us that He always keeps watch over us and all of our actions and intentions are constantly being witnessed by Him – and obviously, we will be evaluated on the Day of Judgement.
This chapter is entitled, The Women (al-Nisāʾ), and the first verse of it focuses on the important role of taqwā in our lives – meaning that the foundational pillar of the spousal and family relationship must be that of God consciousness which everyone must maintain.