The Quran

Preface

يا أَيُّهَا النّاسُ إِن كُنتُم في رَيبٍ مِنَ البَعثِ فَإِنّا خَلَقناكُم مِن تُرابٍ ثُمَّ مِن نُطفَةٍ ثُمَّ مِن عَلَقَةٍ ثُمَّ مِن مُضغَةٍ مُخَلَّقَةٍ وَغَيرِ مُخَلَّقَةٍ لِنُبَيِّنَ لَكُم ۚ وَنُقِرُّ فِي الأَرحامِ ما نَشاءُ إِلىٰ أَجَلٍ مُسَمًّى ثُمَّ نُخرِجُكُم طِفلًا ثُمَّ لِتَبلُغوا أَشُدَّكُم ۖ وَمِنكُم مَن يُتَوَفّىٰ وَمِنكُم مَن يُرَدُّ إِلىٰ أَرذَلِ العُمُرِ لِكَيلا يَعلَمَ مِن بَعدِ عِلمٍ شَيئًا ۚ وَتَرَى الأَرضَ هامِدَةً فَإِذا أَنزَلنا عَلَيهَا الماءَ اهتَزَّت وَرَبَت وَأَنبَتَت مِن كُلِّ زَوجٍ بَهيجٍ

Yusuf Ali

O mankind! if ye have a doubt about the Resurrection,¹ (consider) that We created you out of dust, then out of sperm, then out of a leech-like clot, then out of a morsel of flesh, partly formed² and partly unformed, in order that We may manifest (our power) to you; and We cause whom We will³ to rest in the wombs for an appointed term, then do We bring you out as babes, then (foster you) that ye may reach your age of full strength; and some of you are called to die, and some are sent back to the feeblest old age, so that they know nothing after having known (much).⁴ And (further), thou seest the earth barren and lifeless, but when We pour down rain on it, it is stirred (to life), it swells, and it puts forth every kind of beautiful growth (in pairs).⁵

If they really have doubts in their minds about the life after death, they have only to turn their attention, either to their own nature, or to the nature around. How wonderful is their own physical growth, from lifeless matter, to seed, fertilised ovum, fetus, child, youth, age, and death! How can they doubt that the Author of all these wonderful stages in their life here can also give them another kind of life after the end of this life? Or, if they look at external nature, they see the earth dead and barren, and God’s fertilising showers bring it to life, growth, and beauty in various forms. The Creator of this great pageant of Beauty can surely create yet another and a newer world.
The stages of a man’s physical growth from nothing till he completes the cycle of this life are described in words whose accuracy, beauty, and comprehensiveness can only be fully understood by biologists. Parallel to the physical growth, may be understood man’s inner growth, also by stages and by God’s creative artistry.
That is, a male or a female child, a fair or an ugly child, a good or a rebellious child, etc., involving countless mysteries of genetics and heredity.
Cf. 16:70. In that passage the mystery of our life was used to illustrate God’s abundant mercies and favours to us. Here it is used to illustrate God’s power in giving us a future Life of even greater promise (see also 40:67).
A beautiful nature passage so pregnant in meaning that the earnest student wonders what magic and truth have been conveyed in so few words. M. P.’s Egyptian colleague, Prof. Ghamrawi (see M. P.’s note on this passage) was but expressing the feelings of every careful student of the Qur-ān. The “subtlety and wealth of meaning” are indeed marvellous.