Gender Pairs in Islam

[ALIve]

Salam alaikum and Good afternoon, I was speaking to an atheist regarding the verse which discusses everything being created in pairs. The person mentioned that some animals exist where only one gender is possible and they asexually reproduce. What is the Islamic response to this?

Jazakumullah khair

[Labayk]

Salam alaikum and Good afternoon, I was speaking to an atheist regarding the verse which discusses everything being created in pairs. The person mentioned that some animals exist where only one gender is possible and they asexually reproduce. What is the Islamic response to this?

Which animals only reproduce asexually? "Being able" to reproduce asexually doesn't mean they are not pairs.

Anyway, the scholars differed on the correct interpretation of the verse you are talking about. See Meaning of “And of everything, We have created pairs…” - Islam Question & Answer (islamqa.info)

What the verse means is that Allah, may He be exalted, has created pairs of all created things; that is, two opposite types or counterparts, such as male and female, night and day, heat and cold, and so on. This is indicative of the perfect might of Allah, may He be exalted, Who creates whatever He wills. So He creates a thing and He creates its opposite, which differs from it in its characteristics.

So some scholars took it to mean the creation of opposites which shows His Ability to Create all things. Wa Allahu 'Alim.