Khalaqa (Arabic for “create”)
The Arabic translation of Genesis 1:1 uses the verb khalaqa for the verb “to create”.
في البدء خلق الله السموات والارض
This is the verb that is used in the Qur’an to describe the same form of divine activity, at least in surah 2:29 (surat al-bakarah or “the cow surah”).
Surah 2:29 reads” ((”For the Qur’anic Arabic I’m clipping and pasting from this site“))”:
هُوَ الَّذِي خَلَقَ لَكُم مَّا فِي الأَرْضِ جَمِيعاً ثُمَّ اسْتَوَى إِلَى السَّمَاء فَسَوَّاهُنَّ سَبْعَ سَمَاوَاتٍ وَهُوَ بِكُلِّ شَيْءٍ عَلِيمٌ
In the Pikthal English translation” ((”This site works its way through the Qur’an, providing three English translations of each verse or passage of verses”))”, this Qur’an verse reads: “He it is Who created for you all that is in the earth. Then turned He to the heaven, and fashioned it as seven heavens. And He is knower of all things.”
The reason I was interested in looking at how this verb is used is because I might have expected that the Arabic translation of the Hebrew Bible would use an Arabic verb that was a cognate of the Hebrew “bara”.” ((”Here is a site that offers a word-study of bara))” There is an Arabic cognate bara’i or bary but it is not chosen.
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From the Hans Wehr Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic (4th edition):
خلق Kalaqa u (Kalq) to create, make, originate (ه s.th.); to shape, form, mold (ه s.th.)…V pass. of II; to be molded, be shaped (ب by a model or pattern), change (ب with a model)
خلق Kalq creation; making; origination; s.th. which is created, a creation; creatures; people, man, mankind; physical constitution
خلاق KallAq creative; creator, artist (of a work of art); الخلاق the Creator, Maker (God)
خليقة KalIqa the creation, the universe created by God; nature; natural disposition, trait, characteristic; creatures, created beings; pl. خلائق KalA’iq^2 creatures, created beings
Other words from the same root (خ-ل-ق) have to do with morality, ethics, nature and disposition, invention and fabrication, and old worn clothes.
Onelowerlight, awesome comment. Thank you for providing all those definitions as well as the Arabic.
Have you read Daniel Peterson’s article “Does the Qur’an Teach Creation Ex Nihilo?”? He reviews the various words used in the Qur’an to describe God’s creative activity.
Justin,
I had no idea Daniel Peterson wrote on that subject. I’m quite curious about what it has to say.