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How many creators are there?

Then fashioned We the drop a clot, then fashioned We the clot a little lump, then fashioned We the little lump bones, then clothed the bones with flesh, and then produced it as another creation. So blessed be Allah, the Best of creators!
-- Sura 23:14

Will ye cry unto Baal and forsake the Best of creators, ... ?
-- Sura 37:125

How can it be that Allah is the best of creators (plural)? What other creators are in view when the Qur'an makes these statements?

After all, we find it stated very clearly that there is only one creator (2:54, 6:102, 12:101, 13:16, 14:10, 15:86, 35:1, 35:3, 36:81, 39:46, 39:62, 40:62, 42:11, 56:59, 59:24), in particular:

Allah is Creator of all things, and He is Guardian over all things.
-- Sura 39:62

Such is Allah, your Lord, the Creator of all things, There is no God save Him. How then are ye perverted?
-- Sura 40:62

Such is Allah, your Lord. There is no God save Him, the Creator of all things, so worship Him. And He taketh care of all things.
-- Sura 6:102

Say: Who is Lord of the heavens and the earth? Say: Allah. ... Say: Allah is the Creator of all things, and He is the One, the Almighty.
-- Sura 13:16

If all things are created by Allah, the One, then nothing is created by anyone else, and so, none else can legitimately be called a creator.

Do all the above use the same word for "creator" and "creators"?

The various translators deal with this issue differently ...

Comment to the above by MaSeeHi:

    To tell you the truth, I see no contradiction in it (Arabically Speaking). In a way it's like saying "Allahu Akbar = God is greater".

    Two others points:-

    According to Tafseer Al-Qurtubi, it is used like this because Jesus created too (remember the Quranic story where the young Jesus created a bird, which is similar to the apocrypha).

    And another point in the Tafseer, creation can be linked to man in the sense of making. Like I created this email message.

    In other words, I think that it's a weak contradiction.

However, even though not a fatal contradiction, given the strong emphasis on the oneness of God, it is still an oddity of expression, some kind of inconsistency in the message. There is often the claim that everything fits together in the Qur'an perfectly. Here is not a contradiction, but a discrepancy nevertheless. Furthermore, al-Qurtubi's explanation serves to strengthen the recognition of the unique position Jesus is given in the Qur'an.

Contradictions in the Qur'an
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