لَقَد خَلَقنَا الإِنسانَ في كَبَدٍ

Certainly, we created man in travail.

EXEGESIS

Kabad (travail) literally means liver, but in the context of the verse it means difficulties or travail. This verse, as the subject of the oaths taken in the previous verses, is emphasising that man’s life is full of toil and difficulties. It may also refer to his process of creation which is wrapped in labour and struggle.

According to Rāzī, the word kabad was originally used to describe a pain in one’s liver and then became more generalised to include any form of hardship. Alternatively, it could mean intensity or severity of something. It is used as a verb to describe milk when it boils and becomes thick, and hence the liver is also referred to as kabad as it is as if blood has boiled and become thick.^{‎[1]Tibyan, 10/351.}

The difference between the two views is that the first view takes the word kabad as derived from the organ and then expands it to include every hardship, while the second view takes the origin to be hardship and then derives the name of the organ from it.^{‎[2]Razi, 31/166.}

Another view, which has been attributed to Ibn Abbas, Mujāhid, and ʿIkramah, is that kabad means to be upright and erect, and based on this meaning, the verse is lauding man’s creation as it is only humans that are created upright and erect whilst animals walk on their limbs.^{‎[3]Qummi, 2/422; Tabrisi, 10/748.}

A third view states that kabad means powerful and strong in physique. The meaning of the verse would thus be that humans are created with a strong physique.^{‎[4]Razi, 31/166.} The only possible indication that this is the intended meaning is what has been reported regarding the occasion of revelation of this verse which will be mentioned under Review of Tafsīr Literature.

The al in al-insān has generally been understood as indicating genus (jinsiyyah) and thus the verse has been understood as talking about mankind in general. However, some have opined that it is referential (ʿahdiyyah) and thus the verse is speaking about a specific person, which will be mentioned under Review of Tafsīr Literature.

EXPOSITION

Man is constantly surrounded by hardships. For success in both this world and the next, man must toil and exert effort.^{‎[5]Safi, 5/330.} In fact, the process of his creation and coming into this world is also one of pain and hardship.

Man is ever in hardships, starting from the darkness of the womb to the darkness of the grave. His whole life is one based on labouring and struggle (84:6). Man is not able to enjoy any blessing in this world in a pure form for all blessings are in one way or another attached to some sort of struggle and hardship.^{‎[6]Mizan, 20/291.}

Some have said this verse is a consolation to the Prophet based on what he was suffering at the hands of the Quraysh and thus it was a reminder for him to have patience, since such is the nature of man’s life in this world.^{‎[7]Daqaiq, 14/285; Furqan 30/324.} However, this does not restrict the purport of this verse to the Prophet since this message is general and applies to everyone.

According to Mudarrisi, the purpose of this verse is not only to state a fact about life, but is actually a psychological tool to ease man’s anxieties about his hardships. Consider the following example: is it easier to carry a five-kilogramme weight thinking it is ten kilogrammes, or thinking it is three kilogrammes? Our perspectives and views regarding difficulties will have an impact on how we feel about them. Life is similar, in that it is much easier to traverse this path thinking that we must cross large mountains rather than assuming life is a walk in the park.^{‎[8]Mudarrisi, 18/117.}

For Rāzī, the absoluteness of hardships in this verse encompasses not only worldly difficulties, but also the hardships of religious duties, as well as the hardships of the hereafter, such as the difficulties of the grave and the Day of Judgement.^{‎[9]Razi, 31/166.}

Whenever God takes an oath in the Quran, there is always a connection between that which is the subject of the oath and the object of the oath. In the current set of verses, God takes an oath by Mecca which is the residing place of the Holy Prophet, and then swears by Prophet Abraham (a) and Prophet Ishmael (a) to then emphatically announce that man is always in a state of hardship and struggle. Perhaps the connection may be that these three prophets – Muhammad (s), Abraham (a), and Ishmael (a) – are the most salient examples of men who have had to endure great trials and difficulties in their life­. The struggles of these prophets are very clearly mentioned throughout the Quran. Prophet Muhammad (s) had to face a strong backlash from the Quraysh, whilst Prophet Abraham (a) had to endure very many trials including that of leaving his family in the desert (14:37).^{‎[10]Munyah, 30/360.}

A similar explanation can also be given if we interpret verse 3 to mean every father and son, for it is clear that all fathers struggle and toil to bring up their children, and all children have to surpass difficulties of life until they may become fathers themselves.

REVIEW OF TAFSĪR LITERATURE

According to Rāzī, not only is this world full of hardships, there is no pleasure in this world at all. What is thought to be pleasurable is actually just the removal of pain. The pleasure man thinks he gets when eating is just the removal of the pain of hunger, and the pleasure he thinks he gets when he wears clothes is just the removal of the pain of harsh weather conditions on his body.^{‎[11]Razi, 31/166.}

Ibn Āshūr mentions that whilst the more apparent and famous meaning is that insān here refers to the genus of mankind in general, some say that it could be specifically referring to the disbelievers amongst men, and the reason why such an idea was presumed was due to the proceeding verses which seem more suitable to be addressing disbelievers.

A stranger opinion is that insān refers to a number of individuals: Abū al-Ashhad, whose full name was Usayd ibn Kaldah al-Jumaḥī. He was very strong in his opposition to the Prophet and verse 5 was thought to be specifically revealed about him. Other names given are al-Walīd ibn al-Mughīrah, Abū Jahl, Ḥārith ibn ʿĀmir ibn Nawfil, who presumed that he had spent a lot of wealth in blocking the message of the Prophet, and ʿAmr ibn ʿAbd-Wudd, who was the famous warrior in the Battle of Khandaq. However, there are no reliable reports for any of these names and neither does the context support it.^{‎[12]Ibn Ashur, 30/310.} Another weak opinion is that insān refers to Prophet Adam (a), and kabad refers to the heaven, and thus the verse would be saying: We created Adam in the heaven.^{‎[13]Muhit, 10/481.}

INSIGHTS FROM OTHER TRADITIONS

1. Yet man is born unto trouble, as the sparks fly upward.^{‎[14]Job 5:7.}
2. Man that is born of a woman is of few days, and full of trouble.^{‎[15]Job 14:1.}
3. The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labour and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away.^{‎[16]Psalms 90:10.}
4. Wherefore came I forth out of the womb to see labour and sorrow, that my days should be consumed with shame?^{‎[17]Jeremiah 20:18.}

[1] Tibyan, 10/351.
[2] Razi, 31/166.
[3] Qummi, 2/422; Tabrisi, 10/748.
[4] Razi, 31/166.
[5] Safi, 5/330.
[6] Mizan, 20/291.
[7] Daqaiq, 14/285; Furqan 30/324.
[8] Mudarrisi, 18/117.
[9] Razi, 31/166.
[10] Munyah, 30/360.
[11] Razi, 31/166.
[12] Ibn Ashur, 30/310.
[13] Muhit, 10/481.
[14] Job 5:7.
[15] Job 14:1.
[16] Psalms 90:10.
[17] Jeremiah 20:18.