Tafsir of Surah Ar-Room - Verse 20

Among the Signs of Allah

Allah says:

وَمِنْ ءَايَـتِهِ

(And among His signs) -- which speak of His might and power, is the fact that He created your father Adam out of dust.

ثُمَّ إِذَآ أَنتُمْ بَشَرٌ تَنتَشِرُونَ

(and then -- behold you are human beings scattered!) So man's origins lie in dust, then in a despised liquid, then he is formed and becomes a clot, then a lump of flesh, then bones in the form of a human being. Then Allah clothes the bones with flesh. Then the soul is breathed into him and he can hear and see. Then he comes forth from his mother's womb, small and weak, but the longer he lives, the stronger he becomes, until he reaches the age where he can build cities and strongholds, and he travels to different lands and across the seas, earning a living and amassing wealth, and he is smart and intelligent and crafty, with ideas and opinions of his own, and each one is able to achieve great things in this world and in the Hereafter according to his individual means. Glory be to the One Who has enabled them and made it easy for them to learn all kinds of skills for earning a living, and has caused them to vary in their levels of knowledge and intellectual ability, and in how handsome or ugly, rich or poor they are, and in whether they are blessed and doomed. Allah says:

وَمِنْ ءَايَـتِهِ أَنْ خَلَقَكُمْ مِّن تُرَابٍ ثُمَّ إِذَآ أَنتُمْ بَشَرٌ تَنتَشِرُونَ

(And among His signs is this that He created you from dust, and then -- behold you are human beings scattered!) Imam Ahmad recorded that Abu Musa said, "The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:

«إِنَّ اللهَ خَلَقَ آدَمَ مِنْ قَبْضَةٍ قَبَضَهَا مِنْ جَمِيع الْأَرْضِ، فَجَاءَ بَنُو آدَمَ عَلَى قَدْرِ الْأَرْضِ، جَاءَ مِنْهُمُ الْأَبْيَضُ وَالْأَحْمَرُ وَالْأَسْوَدُ وَبَيْنَ ذَلِكَ، وَالْخَبِيثُ وَالطَّيِّبُ، وَالسَّهْلُ وَالْحَزْنُ وَبَيْنَ ذَلِك»

(Allah created Adam from a handful taken from throughout the earth. Hence the sons of Adam vary as the earth varies, so they are white and red and black and colors in between, evil and good, easy-going or difficult -- or something in between.)" This was also recorded by Abu Dawud and At-Tirmidhi, who said, "This Hadith is Hasan Sahih." Allah said:

وَمِنْ ءايَـتِهِ أَنْ خَلَقَ لَكُم مِّنْ أَنفُسِكُمْ أَزْوَجاً

(And among His signs is this that He created for you wives from among yourselves,) meaning, `He created females of your own kind, to be wives for you.'

لِّتَسْكُنُواْ إِلَيْهَا

(that you may find repose in them,) This is like the Ayah,

هُوَ الَّذِى خَلَقَكُمْ مِّن نَّفْسٍ وَحِدَةٍ وَجَعَلَ مِنْهَا زَوْجَهَا لِيَسْكُنَ إِلَيْهَا

(It is He Who has created you from a single person, and He has created from him his wife, in order that he might enjoy the pleasure of living with her) (7:189). This refers to Hawwa'. Allah created her from Adam, from the short rib on his left. If Allah had made all of Adam's progeny male, and created the females from another kind, such as from Jinn or animals, there would never have been harmony between them and their spouses. There would have been revulsion if the spouses had been from a different kind. Out of Allah's perfect mercy He made their wives from their own kind, and created love and kindness between them. For a man stays with a woman because he loves her, or because he feels compassion towards her if they have a child together, or because she needs him to take care of her, etc.

إِنَّ فِى ذلِكَ لآيَـتٍ لِّقَوْمٍ يَتَفَكَّرُونَ

(Verily, in that are indeed signs for a people who reflect.)

Commentary

After narrating the incident of the war between Rum and Persia in the beginning of Surah Ar-Rum, it was declared that the cause of the misguidance of the infidels and their heedlessness towards the truth was their excessive love for material life and paying no heed to the Hereafter. After that, any possible misgiving regarding resurrection on the Dooms Day and about the rewards and punishment after reckoning was clarified from different angles. Then it was suggested that one should, at the first place, look and ponder within his Self, and then should look around and note what had happened to the people who had lived before, and what was their end. After that Allah's exclusive Omnipotence was described, in which no one is His partner. The obvious conclusion of all these facts and reasoning is that no one else but Allah is entitled to being worshipped, and what He has conveyed through His prophets about the Dooms Day, resurrection, reckoning, Paradise and Hell in the Hereafter should be believed in its totality. In the above verses six manifestations of His Omnipotence together with all-encompassing wisdom are described which are the signs of His incomparable power and wisdom. These realities are termed in these verses as "signs" which in the present context mean "signs of the divine omnipotence"

First sign of divine omnipotence

Man, the most distinguished among all creatures who is the ruler of the universe, is created from earth, which is the most inferior element among all the constituting elements of nature. Among the four well-known elements, that is water, fire, air and earth, the last named does not have the slightest sense, sensation or movement. All other elements have at least some movement, but the earth is devoid of that as well. However, this element is selected by Allah Ta’ ala for the creation of humans. Iblis (Shaitan) was misled by his arrogance as he regarded himself superior to man, since he is made of fire. What he failed to understand was that greatness and superiority is awarded by Allah Ta’ ala. He is free to award it to any one He chooses.

Creation of man from earth is obvious with reference to ‘Adam (علیہ السلام) who is the father of all mankind. Since he was created from clay, the entire mankind, being his progeny, is created indirectly from clay. Every man's creation from earth may also be explained by saying that every man or woman is created from human sperm which is constituted by different ingredients. The origin of most of these ingredients is nothing but earth.

A wonderful miracle of the present world is growth and development. Here, one finds an inert, non-growing material turning into a material which is capable of growing and increasing. Here, lifeless earth, in other words, earth’s elements, undergo a change and take the shape of moving and talking human beings. On account of this, human civilization has survived for thousands of years now. This change, and that too a well-organized, proportionate and harmonious change, would not be at all possible unless it were the work of an all-powerful God. The fact is that if a man gives deep consideration to God’s creations, he will feel that the presence of God is reflected in everything.