Origins of Man; Quran
February 14, 2007 by TJM Admin
It is the goal of this site to engage our audience in discussion and debate about all beliefs and religions, not just Christianity. In that vein, I will pose a question for our Muslim users. From what was man created? These are the corresponding verses that I could find so far in the Quran:
Man was created out of water:
25:54 And He it is Who hath created man from water, and hath appointed for him kindred by blood and kindred by marriage; for thy Lord is ever Powerful.
24:45 Allah hath created every animal of water. Of them is (a kind) that goeth upon its belly and (a kind) that goeth upon two legs and (a kind) that goeth upon four. Allah createth what He will. Lo! Allah is Able to do all things.
Man was created from a clot:
96:1-2 Read: In the name of thy Lord Who createth, Createth man from a clot.
Man was created from clay or mud:
15:26 Verily We created man of potter’s clay of black mud altered,
32:7 Who made all things good which He created, and He began the creation of man from clay;
38:71 When thy Lord said unto the angels: Lo! I am about to create a mortal out of mire,
55:14 He created man of clay like the potter’s,
Man was created from dust:
30:20 And of His signs is this: He created you of dust, and behold you human beings, ranging widely!
35:11 Allah created you from dust, then from a little fluid, then He made you pairs (the male and female). No female beareth or bringeth forth save with His knowledge. And no-one groweth old who groweth old, nor is aught lessened of his life, but it is recorded in a Book, Lo! that is easy for Allah.
It’s important to realize that when reading anything, the frame of mind you are approaching the material matters just as much as the literature itself. For example, you may read a poem about “stars” and a astronomy book about “stars”. Both of these materials can be viewed as “conveying truth” about stars, however if you read the astronomy book like a poem or the poem like an astronomy book, you would have made a grave mistake. One way to illustrate the difference in these approaches is that in the first, one is ‘absorbing’ information from the written material and in the other, one is ‘exerting’ ones own interpretion upon the material.
So the question, in my honest opinion, that first must be asked is what type of written material is the Quran? Is it a science book? Is it a poetry book? Is it a biography? Is it a story book? Once this is established, we may absorb from the frame of reference it’s coming from.
The Quran is in a category which we can be translated as ‘Scripture’. But the meaning of exactly what this means needs to be elaborated. Everyone will say Scripture means the Word of God, but if there is additional human commentary, is that the Word of God anymore? No. So the Quran is only God’s words and nothing additional that may elaborate what is being discussed is included. For example, if someone asked Muhammed (pbuh) a question, and God responded with a verse. The answer is in the Quran, but the question (a human’s words) is not. or if a verse is revealed upon some event occurring, the Quran contains God’s response to the event but not information about the circumstance above what is contained in God’s word. The point is for people to get God’s word firsthand: uninterrepretted and unskewed so that they may employ their own investigative abilities / motivations, or lack thereof. It’s a direct order of God in treating His Word. This is hopefully informative to you and you can take away what I’ve intended.
So getting to the question on the origin of man. It is simply describing the different stages of developing a human. If you were asked what goes into a donut and answered dough, sugar, and oil and I answered carbohydrates, fats, and water and someone else answered carbon, hydrogen, oxygen. We’d all be correct. But if someone said a donut was made from plastic, they would be wrong. So we can extract from those verses that man is basically made in different stages from all those things. And we know today that it is all correct.
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Such an eloquent and concise comment. Certainly, it deserves a response.
Agreed. The problem that I think we face here is that there is not a “textbook” on the metaphysical. Rife with contradictions, we can surely say that the Bible is not to be used as a textbook for matters relating to a god. The Quran, as I am finding out, has its own contradictions as well. I am still learning about the history of Islam and the Quran. I believe that we can agree that the Bible (at least in its current form) has been given liberal artistic license. As a text book for the physical world, the Bible fails multiple times. Hares do not chew the cud, bats are not birds, the world is most assuredly older than 7,000 years… If it is wrong about the physical world, is it also wrong with regards to the spiritual plane? After all, the basic tenants of critical thinking tells us that if one part of the story is found to be false, it is safe to assume that more or all of the story may be false.
Yes. However, if I simply replied, “Sugar,” that would be incorrect. In the verses provided above, we have four seperate “ingredients.” Water, dust, dirt (clot) and clay. One verse specifically says man was created from water. No other ingredients, just water. One says clay. I don’t care how much dust and water you mix, you will not arrive at clay. Nor would you if you were to mix water and dirt. Now, if one wishes, one could infer an evolutionary process from these verses taken together but this is personal interprutation.
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