The Quran

Preface

وَاللَّهُ خَلَقَكُم مِن تُرابٍ ثُمَّ مِن نُطفَةٍ ثُمَّ جَعَلَكُم أَزواجًا ۚ وَما تَحمِلُ مِن أُنثىٰ وَلا تَضَعُ إِلّا بِعِلمِهِ ۚ وَما يُعَمَّرُ مِن مُعَمَّرٍ وَلا يُنقَصُ مِن عُمُرِهِ إِلّا في كِتابٍ ۚ إِنَّ ذٰلِكَ عَلَى اللَّهِ يَسيرٌ

Yusuf Ali

And God did create¹ you from dust; then from a sperm-drop; then² He made you in pairs. And no female conceives, or lays down (her load), but with His knowledge. Nor is a man long-lived granted length of days, nor is a part cut off from his life, but is in a Decree³ (ordained). All this is easy to God.⁴

Cf. 18:37 and n. 2379; 22:5 and n. 2773; and 30:20 and n. 3524. Here the argument is that man’s physical origin is lowly; his physical body is but dust; his life-sperm issues from a part of his body which he hides and considers as a place of shame; and the mystery of sex shows that no one individual among mankind is sufficient for himself. Glory and power and knowledge are not in him, but in God, from Whom alone he derives any glory, or power, or knowledge that he possesses.
“Then” in this and the following clause refers, not to stages of time, but to stages in the argument. It is almost equivalent to “further”, “also”, and “in addition”.
Things that appear most secret and mysterious to man are all known and ordained by God. They are all subject to God’s Laws and Decrees. The mystery of human birth (see n. 3625 to 31:34), the mystery of sex, the mystery of Life and Death and many other things, seem to man inexplicable. But they are all ordained by God, and their reasons are fully known to Him.
Man’s knowledge may be acquired laboriously and may be a burden to him.
God’s knowledge is different; it is no task or burden to Him. Cf. 33:19 and 30.