فَإِذا سَوَّيتُهُ وَنَفَختُ فيهِ مِن روحي فَقَعوا لَهُ ساجِدينَ

So when I have proportioned him and breathed into him of My spirit, then fall down in prostration before him.

EXEGESIS

Sawwaytuhu (proportioned him) comes from taswiyah, meaning to make something sawā. Sawā means to be balanced and proportioned in weight or length.^{‎[1]Raghib, pp. 439-440.} Here it means to make man’s creation well-proportioned and of suitable fashion and to complete all his various parts.^{‎[2]Tabari, 23/118; Tibyan, 8/580.}

Rūḥ (spirit) is that which gives a human being life.^{‎[3]Raghib, pp. 369-370; Tibyan, 8/580.} Its attribution here to God (My spirit) is not to be understood in the sense that a part of God is within man, or indeed that God has any parts, but rather its association with Him is to show its significance and importance, like His saying My house (2:125).

EXPOSITION

We are now told the second critical step needed to make man complete and capable of so much potential: the adding of the spirit. By mentioning the blowing of the spirit immediately after his creation from clay, we are in effect told that we should not look at the matter through the limited physical scope only, but rather that it is the spirit which gives man his lofty position.^{‎[4]Nemuneh, 19/336-337}

The particular nature of the blowing of the spirit and how it fuses with the body is something that is not known to us, for the spirit is of the command of my Lord, and you have not been given of the knowledge except a little (17:85).^{‎[5]Tantawi, 12/181.} This all ties into the surah’s theme of wonder. It is amazing how a lifeless thing such as clay can be formed to create a living and rational creature.

This exact same verse appears in 15:29; see the commentary on that for more.

REVIEW OF TAFSĪR LITERATURE

The rūḥ has also been said to mean God’s power.^{‎[6]Tabari, 23/118.}

INSIGHTS FROM OTHER TRADITIONS

1. Then the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.^{‎[7]Genesis 2:7.}
2. This only have I found: God created mankind upright, but they have gone in search of many schemes.^{‎[8]Ecclesiastes 7:29.}
3. This is what God the Lord says: the Creator of the heavens, who stretches them out, who spreads out the earth with all that springs from it, who gives breath to its people, and life to those who walk on it.^{‎[9]Isaiah 42:5.}
4. Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst?^{‎[10]1 Corinthians 3:16.}

[1] Raghib, pp. 439-440.
[2] Tabari, 23/118; Tibyan, 8/580.
[3] Raghib, pp. 369-370; Tibyan, 8/580.
[4] Nemuneh, 19/336-337
[5] Tantawi, 12/181.
[6] Tabari, 23/118.
[7] Genesis 2:7.
[8] Ecclesiastes 7:29.
[9] Isaiah 42:5.
[10] 1 Corinthians 3:16.