خَلَقَكُم مِن نَفسٍ واحِدَةٍ ثُمَّ جَعَلَ مِنها زَوجَها وَأَنزَلَ لَكُم مِنَ الأَنعامِ ثَمانِيَةَ أَزواجٍ ۚ يَخلُقُكُم في بُطونِ أُمَّهاتِكُم خَلقًا مِن بَعدِ خَلقٍ في ظُلُماتٍ ثَلاثٍ ۚ ذٰلِكُمُ اللَّهُ رَبُّكُم لَهُ المُلكُ ۖ لا إِلٰهَ إِلّا هُوَ ۖ فَأَنّىٰ تُصرَفونَ

He created you from a single soul, then made from it its mate, and He has sent down for you eight mates of the cattle. He creates you in the wombs of your mothers, creation after creation, in a threefold darkness. That is Allah, your Lord! To Him belongs all sovereignty. There is no god except Him. Then where are you being led away?

EXEGESIS

He has sent down for you does not refer to a physical descent like that of rain. Instead, it is apparently an example of the following general Quranic principle: There is not a thing but that its sources are with Us, and We do not send it down except in a known measure (15:21). Speaking of the creation of cattle as inzāl (sending down) conveys the following points that are not captured by creation per se: 1. These cattle are blessings and bounties of your supreme Lord upon you. 2. Their creation is based on God’s previous plan and His divine ordinance. 3. The sources and treasures of these bounties are with God, of which these are only a part and sample. The same usage of inzāl is found for other material objects such as garments (7:26), provision (10:59) – which again concerns cattle in particular – and iron (57:25). See verse 15:21 for more on this sense of inzāl.

Azwāj is the plural of zawj, which sometimes refers to a couple, and sometimes to each member of the pair (one individual, but with respect to it being a member of a pair).^{‎[1]Lisan; Fayyumi; Bahrayn, under z-w-j.} The latter meaning is how the Quran has used the term zawj, such that a couple is referred to as zawjayn (plural form for two). This complies with the elaboration of the eight mates of the cattle elsewhere in the Quran: Eight mates: two of sheep, and two of goats … And two of camels and two of oxen (6:143-144). Hence, eight mates would be the same as four couples. Since the context of the current verse is the male and female of humankind and the growth of the foetus, it can be inferred that the eight mates of the cattle also refer to the male and female of the four species named in 6:143-144. This is confirmed by the following verse: He made for you mates from your own selves, and mates of the cattle, by which means He multiplies you (42:11). Another Quranic meaning of azwāj is kinds, types, species. This meaning is also possible here, whereby the verse would refer to eight different kinds of cattle. For other possibilities and further elaboration, see verses 6:143-145.

EXPOSITION

This verse talks about how life on earth subsists through mates and couples. The creation of the male and female mates – both in humans and in cattle – is another sign of God’s infinite power and mercy.

He created you from a single soul, then made from it its mate: this indicates that man and woman share the same origin. Then in this verse does not necessarily imply a temporal lag, as it is not clear in what realm of existence this creation took place. There are two very similar verses to this part of the current verse that do not include then (4:1, 7:189). Focussing on topics such as the equality and the differences of the genders would be missing the point of these noble verses, and reducing the Holy Quran to the rather trivial obsessions of modernity. Indeed, only one who feels an inner need and realises his deficiency will seek a solution to his problem, and will not spend his life or employ his mind in pursuit of polemic debates and disputes. The main point here is to emphasise that all of the diversities and differences that we see across mankind go back to a shared origin.

All these images and figures full of grace

Were a single flash of the Tapster’s face.^{‎[2]Ḥāfiẓ, ghazal 111.}

He creates you is a subtle reference to what is discussed elsewhere in the Quran: Or are they [their own] creators? (52:35); Have you considered the sperm that you emit? Is it you who create it, or are We the creator? (56:58-59). Creation after creation is another very subtle point, hinting that you have ever been in the process of creation, moving from one stage to another. This did not end by your birth, nor will it end by your death: Were We exhausted by the first creation? Rather, they are in doubt about a new creation (50:15); He has created you in [various] stages (71:14). The stages of the embryonic development are discussed in verses 22:5 and 23:12-14.

In the wombs of your mothers … in a threefold darkness. This is the only place in the Quran that talks about the three layers of darkness. Since the Quran has not specified a single meaning, the verse could apply to any plausible meaning. Here are three possible meanings: 1. At the apparent and physical level, the three layers could be the stomach, the womb, and the amnion, as interpreted by the Imams and many early exegetes. 2. At a metaphysical level, the three layers could refer to three determinations and delimitations that veil every material being from absolute existence: the realm of corporeality, the realm of forms, and the realm of immaterial intellects. Indeed, mankind reaches the nadir of the existential realms in the realm of nature (95:4). 3. Perhaps one may also employ verse 16:78 to deduce that the three layers of darkness refer to the lack of any knowledge, whether it is acquired through hearing, through sight, or through the heart: Allah has brought you forth from the bellies of your mothers while you did not know anything. He made for you hearing, eyesight, and hearts so that you may give thanks (16:78).

Pointing out this state of total darkness as the origin of mankind serves several purposes: 1. It eradicates one’s feeling of pride and arrogance as one realises his original state of obscurity and negligibility. 2. It alerts the audience to watch out and be heedful: remove the veils of darkness from you; do not fall back into darkness after God has blessed you and brought you forth from there; do not increase or intensify your layers of darkness by how you live. We certainly created man in the best of forms; then We relegated him to the lowest of the low, except those who have faith and do righteous deeds (95:4-6). As for the faithless, their works are … like the manifold darkness in a deep sea, covered by billow upon billow, overcast by clouds; manifold [layers of] darkness, one on top of another (24:39-40). 3. It hints at God’s craftsmanship in designing, forming, and painting the splendid faces and figures of His creatures, all from behind three layers of darkness, something that no artist can match. It is He who forms you in the wombs however He wishes. There is no god except Him, the all-mighty, the all-wise (3:6); He formed you and perfected your forms … That is Allah, your Lord! Blessed is Allah, Lord of all the worlds (40:64; see also 64:3). 4. It reminds the people of faith and piety to not credit themselves for their guidance, because if it were not for the grace of God, they would have been in layers upon layers of darkness and misguidance: He knows you best since [the time] He produced you from the earth, and since you were foetuses in the bellies of your mothers. So do not flaunt your piety: He knows best those who are God-wary (53:32). 5. It arouses one’s feeling of gratitude and thankfulness towards his Lord as one realises how indebted he is to God’s infinite mercy, who has provided for his needs, has taken care of him, and has helped him grow ever since he was a totally helpless single cell.^{‎[3]Furqan, 25/294.} This need for gratitude is explicitly followed in the next verse. It is in this regard that Imam al-Sajjād (a) humbly praises God as follows: ‘Then, when I needed Thy provision, and could not do without the aid of Thy bounty, Thou appointed for me a nourishment from the bounty of the food and drink which Thou bestowed upon Thy handmaid in whose belly Thou gavest me to rest, and in the lodging of whose womb Thou deposited me. Hadst Thou entrusted me in those states, my Lord, to my own force, or driven me to have recourse to my own strength, force would have been removed from me and strength taken far away. So Thou hast fed me through Thy bounty with the gentle food of the good; Thou hast done that for me in graciousness toward me up to this my present point.’^{‎[4]Sahifah, supplication 32.}

That is Allah, your Lord, as opposed to any force or being other than God that is taken as a guardian, an object of worship, or a source of help and support. These descriptions of God’s creation clarify what one’s lord ought to be. It thus becomes clear that no one other than God can be a lord, as no one other than Him can perform any of these tasks. There are numerous other verses that discuss other actions and blessings by God that show why He is the only Lord of every being (6:101-102, 10:3, 10:31-35, 35:13, 40:61-65).

Then where are you being led away? This sentence awakens and admonishes the audience: what is it that is turning you away? Despite all these clear proofs of God’s infinite mercy and blessings upon you, why do you turn away from Him and ignore His message? This is while even His message is another act of mercy by Him, to lead you from the darkness of ignorance, heedlessness, and misguidance to the light of gnosis and perfection, just as He brought you out of the darkness of the wombs of your mothers. O man! What has deceived you about your generous Lord, who created you and proportioned you, and gave you an upright nature, and composed you in any form that He wished? (82:6-8).

How can the people harm their Lord?

They’re harming themselves and losing reward.

The infidels prevent themselves from the sun;

Other than themselves they harm no one.^{‎[5]Rūmī, Mathnawī, v. 2, lines 792 and 797-798.}

INSIGHTS FROM HADITH

1. Imam Ali (a) interpreted He has sent down for you eight mates and We sent down iron, in which there is great might (57:25) as follows: ‘His sending down of these things is His creation of them.’^{‎[6]Ihtijaj, 1/250.}

Note: This complies with the interpretation given in Exposition. Some early exegetes have said that God created these animals in paradise and then sent them down to the earth, which could again be a reference to the Quranic principle that There is not a thing but that its sources are with Us, and We do not send it down except in a known measure (15:21). It has also been reported: ‘Sheep is a heavenly animal.’^{‎[7]Makarim, p. 129.} The same has been reported concerning camel.^{‎[8]Tabrisi, 8/766.}

2. In the famous hadith where Imam al-Ṣādiq (a) explains the signs of God’s existence and His attributes for his disciple Mufaḍḍal, he says: ‘O Mufaḍḍal, let us start by talking about the creation of the human. Pay heed to it. The first point is how the foetus is directed and handled in the womb, where it is covered in a threefold darkness: the darkness of stomach, the darkness of womb, and the darkness of amnion. It is completely helpless in absorbing food, emitting waste, attracting any benefit, and repelling any harm. Instead, the blood that reaches it from the placenta carries the water and food that it needs.’^{‎[9]Mufaḍḍal ibn ʿUmar, Tawḥīd Mufaḍḍal, p. 12; Nur, 4/477, h. 13.}

Note: The interpretation of the three layers of darkness to the stomach, the womb, and the amnion is also narrated from Imam al-Bāqir (a) and many of the early exegetes such as Ibn Abbas, Mujāhid, Qatādah, Suddī, and Ibn Zayd.^{‎[10]Tabrisi, 8/766.}

3. In his supplication on the Day of ʿArafah, Imam al-Husayn (a) praises God as follows: ‘Thou initiated my creation from some semen that is emitted. Then Thou accommodated me in a threefold darkness, between meat, skin, and blood. Thou did not disclose my creation to me, and did not leave any of my affairs to myself. Then Thou brought me forth to this world perfect and fully fashioned.’^{‎[11]Iqbal, 2/75; Nur, 4/477, h. 12.}

INSIGHTS FROM OTHER TRADITIONS

1. And hath made of one blood all nations of men.^{‎[12]Acts 17:26.}

TOPICAL ARTICLES

See Topical Article: Bounty and Gratitude.

[1] Lisan; Fayyumi; Bahrayn, under z-w-j.
[2] Ḥāfiẓ, ghazal 111.
[3] Furqan, 25/294.
[4] Sahifah, supplication 32.
[5] Rūmī, Mathnawī, v. 2, lines 792 and 797-798.
[6] Ihtijaj, 1/250.
[7] Makarim, p. 129.
[8] Tabrisi, 8/766.
[9] Mufaḍḍal ibn ʿUmar, Tawḥīd Mufaḍḍal, p. 12; Nur, 4/477, h. 13.
[10] Tabrisi, 8/766.
[11] Iqbal, 2/75; Nur, 4/477, h. 12.
[12] Acts 17:26.