Do people have spouses created from their own souls?

The Details of the Question

- According to the verses ar-Rum, 30/21 and an-Nahl, 16/72, do all human beings, like the Prophet Adam, have spouses created from their own souls?

The Answer

Dear Brother / Sister,

It will be useful to write the meanings of the verses in question first:

“And Allah has made for you mates (and companions) of your own nature, and made for you, out of them, sons and daughters and grandchildren, and provided for you sustenance of the best: will they then believe in vain things, and be ungrateful for Allah’s favors?” (an-Nahl, 16/72)

“And among His Signs is this, that He created for you mates from among yourselves, that ye may dwell in tranquility with them, and He has put love and mercy between your (hearts): verily in that are Signs for those who reflect.” (Rum, 30/21).

The expression “min anfusikum (from yourselves)” in the verses means “from humans’ own species”, not from the people themselves.

As a matter of fact, the expression “min anfusikum” in the following verse means “someone from among yourselves, from your own species, who is human like you”.

“Now hath come unto you a Messenger from amongst yourselves...” (at-Tawba, 9/128)

Both men and women are of the same origin, of the human species; therefore, they are equal to each other and, in principle, the gender difference does not result in a discrimination; even children and grandchildren (ongoing generations) are equal to their parents in terms of basic values.

In that case, gender difference and the resulting reproductive process, marriage, family institution and the formation of statuses as husband, wife, children and grandchildren depending on this institution are divine grants and blessings that develop and enrich human life and form the basis for the formation of values.

The Importance of the Family Home

When Allah Almighty gave us spouses, children and grandchildren, He also prepared and gave us pure and clean sustenance in order to feed them properly, raise them to a useful level for the society and keep them away from evil, and ordered us to make a halal (legitimate) living. He has forbidden harmful things so that people’s spirits will not be darkened, their consciences will not be weak and their ethics will not corrupt. Doubtlessly, with these decrees, Allah intends to direct the family so that there will be no gaps in the social structure and a retarded generation will not emerge.

Unfortunately, most of the people did not regard the clean, pure and beneficial blessings of Allah sufficient and started the fight to obtain haram and harmful sustenance. That is why they poisoned both themselves and their children. Then, many of them became so unconscious that they ascribed the disorder to Allah. They caused the worst harm to their families and societies by choosing to believe in and adhere to wrong faiths.

One of Allah’s verses (signs), one of the proofs of the grants of His divinity, is that He created spouses from our own selves, from our own species, from the same human species, not from monkeys or any other animals (see Elmalılı, the interpretation of ar-Rum, verse 30/21) so that we would warm to them, incline to them and establish intimacy. Being of the same species causes affection and difference causes fear. How bad it would be if man had to seek his mate among animals. He also placed a love and mercy between us; He created a feeling of love and compassion between not only spouses through marriage but also among us humans in general; it is such a humane love and compassion that it is not peculiar to the period of estrus when animals are in heat. Undoubtedly, there are signs in Allah’s creation of spouses from among ourselves and placing love and mercy between us. There are many signs, not only one sign, and proofs indicating Allah’s power that creates, changes and perfects nature, His mercy, especially the help of Allah, the Most Gracious, and His divine decrees about us humans.

The verses inform us that there are many instances of wisdom in the creation of man for people who will think. It tells us how humanity was created as ready for high ethics, a lovely civilization, and as a candidate for a happy life and blessings. They also show us what kind of social order should be followed with the feelings of love and mercy in order to protect the woman, who is a pillar of this life, from decline and humiliation.

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