2.14 Al-Baqarah - The Mosquito Parable: What It Means

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السلام عليكم و رحمة الله و بركاته

All praise belongs to Allah, the Most High and Glorious. Countless blessings be upon our Seal of the Prophets, Muhammad ﷺ, and may Allah be pleased with all his Companions.

Today, we will share a topic: understanding the meaning of the parable of the mosquito. In verse 26 of Surah al-Baqarah, our Lord gives us the example of a mosquito as a parable. Let us reflect on its meanings so that we may receive guidance.

The Verses

First, let us read verses 26 and 27 of Surah al-Baqarah, where the mosquito is mentioned as a parable. These two verses should be understood together. Our Lord tells us:

{إِنَّ اللَّهَ لاَ يَسْتَحْيِي أَن يَضْرِبَ مَثَلاً مَّا بَعُوضَةً فَمَا فَوْقَهَا فَأَمَّا الَّذِينَ آمَنُواْ فَيَعْلَمُونَ أَنَّهُ الْحَقُّ مِن رَّبِّهِمْ وَأَمَّا الَّذِينَ كَفَرُواْ فَيَقُولُونَ مَاذَا أَرَادَ اللَّهُ بِهَـذَا مَثَلاً يُضِلُّ بِهِ كَثِيراً وَيَهْدِي بِهِ كَثِيراً وَمَا يُضِلُّ بِهِ إِلاَّ الْفَاسِقِين}[البقرة:26]

2:26 Surely Allah does not shy away from using the parable of a mosquito or what is even smaller. As for the believers, they know that it is the truth from their Lord. And as for the disbelievers, they argue, “What does Allah mean by such a parable?” Through this ˹test˺, He leaves many to stray, and guides many. And He leaves none to stray except the rebellious—

{الَّذِينَ يَنقُضُونَ عَهْدَ اللَّهِ مِن بَعْدِ مِيثَاقِهِ وَيَقْطَعُونَ مَا أَمَرَ اللَّهُ بِهِ أَن يُوصَلَ وَيُفْسِدُونَ فِي الأَرْضِ أُولَـئِكَ هُمُ الْخَاسِرُون}[البقرة:27]

2:27 those who violate Allah’s covenant after it has been affirmed, break whatever ˹ties˺ Allah has ordered to be maintained, and spread corruption in the land. It is they who are the ˹true˺ losers.

Why This Parable Was Given

Some of the Companions (may Allah be pleased with them) said that Allah, Most High and Glorious, gave two examples concerning the hypocrites. In the earlier verses, we learn of the example of the one who kindled a fire, and the example of a rainstorm—both symbolizing the hypocrites. Then those hypocrites said, “How can Allah, Most High and Glorious, make such parables?” After that, Allah revealed the verse declaring that they are the true losers.

Whether it is the earlier example of the fire-kindler and the rainstorm, or the present example of the mosquito and what is smaller than it, all these parables and examples are directed at the hypocrites.

Anas (may Allah be pleased with him), while explaining the verse, said: “Allah likened this worldly life to a mosquito. It survives only when it is hungry, and once it becomes full and fat, it dies. Those mentioned in the Qur’an are like this as well: when they are allowed to eat their fill day after day, then it is time for them to be punished.” Then he recited verse 44 of Surah al-Anʿām:

{فَلَمَّا نَسُواْ مَا ذُكِّرُواْ بِهِ فَتَحْنَا عَلَيْهِمْ أَبْوَابَ كُلِّ شَيْءٍ حَتَّى إِذَا فَرِحُواْ بِمَا أُوتُواْ أَخَذْنَاهُم بَغْتَةً فَإِذَا هُم مُّبْلِسُون}[الأنعام:44]

6:44 When they became oblivious to warnings, We showered them with everything they desired. But just as they became prideful of what they were given, We seized them by surprise, then they instantly fell into despair!

The Mosquito as a Sign of Creation

Regarding our Lord’s use of the mosquito or what is even smaller as an example, some scholars explained it in this way: “When Allah, Most High and Glorious, speaks of things, He speaks plainly and never feels shy about it, no matter how small or how great the thing may be.”

In the Qur’an, we often read of insects such as flies, spiders, ants, and bees as signs. Of course, in the signs of Allah, Most High and Glorious, there is truth, guidance for humanity, and a means of seeking blessing. But some misguided people say, “What is Allah’s intent in giving such an example?” In other words, what is the purpose of using a mosquito as a parable? So let us read about the mosquito.

First, let us know the mosquito from a scientific angle, so that we may witness the greatness of Allah’s creation. Scientists have found that a mosquito has one hundred eyes on its head, forty-eight teeth, and three hearts. Its blood-sucking tube has six directions through which it can suck blood at the same time. As for its wings, it has three on the left side and three on the right. In infrared—that is, in darkness—it can find, see, and distinguish human skin. The mosquito also has a special anesthetic organ. When it is about to insert its sting into a person’s skin and suck blood, it does not first release the anesthetic liquid; rather, it releases it while sucking the blood, and so the person feels the itch. It also has another function: it can distinguish the taste of blood, and its ability in this is extremely strong. What it does not like, it will not go near. So people often say, “Mosquitoes do not bite him,” while some other people’s skin is especially attractive to them. Human blood is very thick, and its tube would not be able to draw it, so our Lord created for it another function: to make thick blood thinner so that it can be sucked more easily. From as far as sixty kilometers away, it can smell the scent of human sweat. By smelling sweat, it knows that a person is there and that there is skin from which it can draw blood. The mosquito mentioned in the verse that sucks blood—بعوضة (baʿūḍah)—is the female mosquito, because the female mosquito needs blood in order to lay eggs and reproduce. The male mosquito does not suck blood, so not all mosquitoes suck blood. This is one form of analysis biologists have made of the mosquito.

From this tiny mosquito, we cannot help but bear witness: can human beings make something like this? Who can create such a lowly mosquito? One hundred eyes—and it can see in every direction. That is why swatting a mosquito is so difficult. It also has six wings of its own, so its speed is astonishingly fast. Though it is so small, it has three hearts. Though it is so small, it has forty-eight teeth. And when can it truly obtain the blood on which it lives? At night—when humans and animals are resting—yet it can still see in the darkness. Who created it like this? Could it have formed itself in this way? At the same time, when it sucks blood, the blood is too thick and could easily block its tube, making it impossible for it to feed, so it is able to process the thick blood and make it thinner for consumption. Who gave it this function? And its anesthetic—if it released it at the moment it pierced the skin, then the person would notice it in time and quickly kill it. So it releases the anesthetic only when it begins to suck blood. By the time a person feels it, it has already taken what it wanted and is about to fly away. Did it possess all this by itself? Or did the Creator make these abilities for it? How could this possibly be the result of natural development? How could it possibly be a mere accident?

Such a tiny created thing contains so much within it to be made—so many functions, so many organs. Human beings cannot make it. And human beings also realize that it could not have developed naturally, nor is it something that exists by accident. Especially when the verse says that there are things even smaller than the mosquito: modern science has discovered that upon the mosquito there clings a particularly tiny creature that lives attached to it. The human eye cannot see it; it can only be seen with a magnifying lens. Yet in the time of our Seal of the Prophets, Muhammad ﷺ, there was no magnifying glass, much less a microscope. So how did he know that on such a tiny mosquito there was attached an even smaller living thing? The deeper human beings study and understand this tiny mosquito, the more they feel human helplessness, and the more they realize that the Creator is the One of true power. Then a person bears witness that the Creator is real, and that all existence is among His signs, testifying to His existence. Our Lord not only possesses the attribute of existing—He is the Creator—but He also possesses His beauty, His attributes, and all those essential realities of His that we must come to know. And He has created creation as well.

What the Mosquito Reveals About Revelation

Let us continue to know this mosquito as a sign. We have just mentioned that with a microscope one can see that there is on the mosquito a smaller attached being. This is something modern science came to know only recently. But more than fourteen hundred years ago, there was neither magnifying glass nor microscope, yet through the scripture he left behind, we know that there is upon the mosquito something smaller attached to it. This language was given to him by our Lord. How is this proven? How could someone who did not even know how to read or write speak of such fine and subtle realities? That can only prove that what he received was told to him by the Creator—the One who apportions all destiny, the Lord of decree, told him.

So from this tiny mosquito, and from the smaller being attached to it, we bear witness that the Lord who nurtures creation guides all His creatures and guides humankind. He possesses language.

Decree, Knowledge, and Guidance

All things are created by Him within the bounds of decree. For example: when will the hidden reality of what has been decreed for humankind be uncovered? The secret of the mosquito remained hidden for so long, and only now, in the age of science, has it been disclosed. But He Himself is not constrained by decree. When does He disclose things? At the time He creates them? Before He creates them? He is fully knowing and fully aware of all that He intends to create. Of course, He is not bound by any decree. When He wills to bring forth the signs—آيات (āyāt)—of His attributes, He chooses prophets and messengers and unveils to them the hidden realities of decree. He reveals to His prophets and messengers through His language, so that they can receive revelation and know certain matters of decree in advance, without being constrained by decree.

Through this tiny mosquito, and through the smaller creature attached to it, we come to know that while human beings may seek the blessings of this world, Allah, Most High and Glorious, guides us through His revelation—through the language that belongs to Him—to seek the blessings of the Hereafter as well. Our Lord has granted humanity scientific means, and through our intellect, moral capacity, and ability, we can seek the blessings of this world and uncover the secret of the mosquito. Yet He had already revealed the secret of the mosquito through His language to His Prophet, so that we might receive guidance and know that He possesses language, and that He guides us to the straight path. As for the Hereafter, and the unseen, these are not matters that can be reached through scientific means alone; their secrets are unveiled through His revelation.

So human beings will continue to discover miracles in His preserved Book—the Qur’an. Through scientific methods they bear witness to the miracles of the Qur’an. This not only leads people to believe that this language comes from Him—the Creator—but also lets them know that the secrets revealed by science belong only to the visible world. Through learning His language and following His language, one can also come to know the hidden decrees of the unseen world. Through worship of Him, those hidden decrees will also be unveiled to His servants. Through His language, people not only bear witness that He possesses language as one of His essential realities, containing His grace, but they are also moved to worship Him, to have those hidden decrees unveiled, and to offer praise to the Most Compassionate and Most Merciful Lord.

The Third Guidance in the Parable of the Mosquito

Now let us read the third form of guidance this mosquito gives us as a parable. Once, a friend and I searched online for what benefit mosquitoes have. One joking answer was that they create business opportunities for those who make mosquito nets and mosquito-killing devices. Of course, that was just a joke. As part of the chain of life, the mosquito has important meaning, and in the animal world our Lord created, there is also blessing for humankind through the food chain. But when it comes to individual human experience, the mosquito is truly annoying and brings much inconvenience. Especially in homes with children, people feel even more strongly how hateful mosquitoes are and how endlessly troublesome they seem.

Many people have experienced the disturbance mosquitoes cause. At night they buzz by the ear, and once a person is bitten, the itching can keep him from sleeping. By day he keeps scratching. It feels as though this mosquito is completely useless. So our Lord uses the inconvenience and disturbance brought by the mosquito as a parable—like the فساد (fasād), the corruption or wrongdoing, committed on the earth. In the second verse following the parable of the mosquito, a type of person is described: those who make a covenant, then break it; who sever what Allah, Most High and Glorious, has commanded to be joined; and who do evil in the land. These wrongdoers are corrupters. They are like that mosquito: darting here and there among people, seemingly not committing some massive crime, yet in reality bringing unrest to others. In the time of our Prophet Muhammad ﷺ, the hypocrites constantly harassed others on the path of truth. They themselves could not accomplish some great feat and completely destroy the straight path, but they kept disturbing others in the cause of truth and would not let people have peace. This is a kind of parable. The hypocrites also asked, “Why does Allah, Most High and Glorious, use the mosquito as a parable?” In truth, He was making them into a parable.

There is also another kind of person in real life and in human relationships—someone who circles around and keeps disturbing others. It may not look like a great sin, yet he does not stop committing small sins, and people cannot live in peace because of him. This is one meaning of the mosquito as a parable of فساد (fasād). فساد means wrongdoing.

What Clings to the Mosquito, and What Clings to the Human Being

Let us continue reading the parable contained in the mosquito and in the even smaller creature attached to it. Our Lord is giving examples, and we must read the example within them. For instance: any wrongdoer who commits فساد must surely be one who does not remember the Most Compassionate and Merciful Lord and has not accepted admonition. Whoever does not accept admonition will show the traits of wrongdoing. So in verse 36 of Surah al-Zukhruf, our Lord tells us:

{وَمَن يَعْشُ عَن ذِكْرِ الرَّحْمَنِ نُقَيِّضْ لَهُ شَيْطَانًا فَهُوَ لَهُ قَرِين}[الزخرف:36]

43:36 And whoever turns a blind eye to the Reminder of the Most Compassionate, We place at the disposal of each a devilish one as their close associate,

Our Lord uses the mosquito as a parable. The mosquito behaves in these ways, and it resembles a certain kind of person who does evil on the earth. Even though it is only a small disturbance, it still does not allow others peace, and this too is a kind of wrongdoing against people. Such a person is counted among the wrongdoers. He does not remember his Lord, nor has he accepted admonition, and so a devil becomes attached to him. Thus the parable of the mosquito includes another layer: something even smaller clings to it, unseen by the naked eye and visible only through magnification. This too is a parable. For example, if a person is attached to by a devil, a jinn, the human eye cannot see it, yet that attached thing truly exists. Our Lord says that when people refuse admonition and commit wrongdoing, the sign appears—the devil is attached to them. Our Lord created this clear sign so that we may read this parable and receive guidance from it. He guides us to stay far away from sin, to become true doers of good, and not to carry the traits of hypocrisy.

Because the female mosquito has another important symbolic meaning: the female mosquito sucks blood in order to continue its offspring. From this, we may read another parable. There is a kind of person—the hypocrite—who for his own interests, for his own small family or little environment, harms others for his own benefit. Just as this mosquito can suck the blood of others for the sake of raising its young, without caring in the least how others feel, so too the hypocrite is like this. His own interests stand above everything else. He does not care what benefit truth brings to humankind; he only persists in destruction.

In the time of the Prophet, Abdullah ibn Ubayy wanted to become the king of Madinah. His crown had already been prepared. For the sake of his own interests, for the sake of becoming king and obtaining the benefits of this world, he disregarded the Prophet’s call to seek the blessings of the Hereafter—that whoever worships the Lord is, with Allah, Most High and Glorious, the most honored. Once that path blocked his rise to the throne and affected his interests, he immediately began the activities of hypocrisy and started harassing the path of truth. He was the greatest and most destructive “mosquito.” The trait of hypocrisy showed itself clearly in him. Of course, many others are also like this. For the sake of their own little family or little surroundings, they do not care what good may come to humanity. Nothing matters to them as long as they themselves are well.

Closing Reflection

From these three aspects, we can basically arrive at an understanding of why our Lord says: “Allah is certainly not ashamed to set forth any example.” For every tiny created thing contains meanings by which we can read His creation and His mighty power. We can also read His all-encompassing knowledge, containing the blessing of decree. We can read as well that He is the Lord of all goodness, guiding people to do good, and guiding them through good deeds to purify their souls and attain the blessings of both worlds. In this way, we receive guidance.

So this mosquito, as one of the signs of our Lord, surely contains many more secrets within it, because the Qur’an is guidance for those who came before, those who come after, and the people of the present age. Each person may reflect on it from his own angle and offer praise. I have shared these reflections with everyone from my own angle and according to my own understanding. If there are slips of the tongue or places where I have not explained clearly, I ask Allah, Most High and Glorious, to forgive me, and I ask the readers for their understanding. Thank you all for sharing.

السلام عليكم و رحمة الله و بركاته

Qur’an translation source: The Clear Qur’an — Dr. Mustafa Khattab.