Tafsir of An-Nur 24:45

"And Allah has created every dabbah (moving creature)"—that is, every animal that moves upon the earth. Some have included birds and fish in this. It is the manifest view of some leading exegetes that the angels and the jinn are included in the generality of the dabbah. Perhaps, according to him, it signifies everything that moves and stirs, absolutely. Most linguists explain it as has been heard, and the ta therein is for the transition to a noun, not for the feminine gender. It is said that dabbah is the singular of dabb, like kha'inah and kha'in.

Hamza, al-Kisa'i, Ibn Waththab, and al-A'mash read khaliq (a participle) and kull-i dabbatin (in the genitive case, as an idafa construction). [The phrase] min ma'in (from water)—the water is part of its composition. He specified it by mention because of the manifest, heightened need of the animal for it after its structure is perfected, and because of the mixing of earthly elements with it, among other reasons. Or, it refers to specific water, which is the seminal drop (nutfa). The indefiniteness in the first instance is for the specification of the species, and in the second, for the specification of the individual.

It is possible that the word kull (every) in both cases is for multiplication, as in His saying, "He gathers to it the fruits of everything," because there are creatures that are not generated from a nutfa. Some have claimed that in the first instance it is also for this reason, based on the inclusion of the dabbah to cover the angels (created from light) and the jinn (created from fire). It was also claimed that among mankind there are those who were not created from water—namely, Adam and Isa (peace be upon them)—for the former was created from dust and the latter from the Spirit. The deficiency in this is not hidden. It is possible to consider the generality in kull and intend by dabbah those created through procreation, by the context of "from water," i.e., nutfa. There is discussion regarding this. It is said: There is no thing, whether a dabbah or otherwise, that is not created from water; it is the origin of all created things, based on what is reported: that the first thing Allah created was a jewel, then He looked at it with the eye of awe, and it became water. Then from that water, He created fire, air, and light, and from it He created [all] creation. In any case, min (from) is attached to khalaqa (created). Al-Qaffal—and the Imam favored this—said: It is attached to an omitted descriptor that acts as an adjective for dabbah. Thus, the intent is to inform that He, the Exalted, created every dabbah that exists or is born from water. The generality of dabbah according to him is restricted by the adjective, and the generality of kull is upon its apparent meaning.

The manifest view is that it is attached to khalaqa, and this is more appropriate to the context, as is not hidden from those of understanding. The water is indefinite here, while it is definite in His saying, "And We made from water every living thing," because the intent here is towards the meaning of individuality, whether by person or by species, while the intent there is towards the meaning of the genus—that water is the principle of every living thing.

"Of them is that which moves upon its belly"—such as snakes and fish. Naming their movement "walking," despite it being crawling, is a metaphor for exaggeration in manifesting power, and [to show] that they crawl without limbs, similar to walking and even more powerful. This is made more beautiful by the mushakala (stylistic parallelism) of mentioning the crawler among those who walk. Similar to what is here, in one aspect, is His saying, "The hand of Allah is over their hands," according to one opinion. "And of them is that which moves on two legs"—such as humans and birds. "And of them is that which moves on four"—such as cattle and wild animals.

The manifest meaning is four legs, so it denotes the application of "leg" to what has been mentioned previously as the limbs of four-legged creatures. The application of "hand" to them has also occurred. The lack of mention of those that move on more than four—such as spiders, centipedes, and other insects—is because they are not counted as significant, while referring to them with His, the Glorified's, saying: "Allah creates what He wills"—that is, from what is mentioned and what is not mentioned, whether simple or complex, in whatever form, limbs, movements, natures, powers, and actions He wills. The philosophers claimed that the movement of those animals having more than four is actually on four, but they have no proof for that. In the codex of Ubayy [ibn Ka'b] it is, "And of them is that which moves on more," which is manifest in contradicting what they claim, but it has not been established as Quranic.

The masculine pronoun in minhum (of them) is for the predominance of the rational beings, and the expression man (who/those), which is applied to the non-rational, is based on this predominance in the pronoun. This was stated by al-Radi. Some expressions suggest the consideration of predominance in "every dabbah," but that is not intended. Rather, the intent is that since it includes the rational and others through mixing, it became necessary to consider this in the pronoun returning to it, and [thus] the predominance of the rational in it. It is understood from the words of some researchers that there is no predominance in the first and third "of them," but only in the second. It may be said: There is no predominance in the three after it has been considered in the pronoun. So reflect upon this. The arrangement of the categories is as they were arranged to prioritize what is more manifest in [demonstrating] power. This does not contradict that walking on the belly, meaning crawling, is a metaphor, as has been imagined. [The use of] the Majestic Name [Allah] in the place of a pronoun is to exalt the stature of the mentioned creation and to signal that it is from the decrees of Divinity. The manifestation in His saying, "Indeed, Allah is powerful over everything," is [to show that] He does what He wills as He wills, for that reason as well, while emphasizing the independence of the explanatory commencement.