Tafsir of As-Sajdah 32:9

"Then He fashioned him": He balanced him by perfecting his limbs in the womb and forming them as they ought to be. The origin of taswiyah (fashioning/leveling) is making the parts equal. "Then" signifies a sequence in rank or mention. "And breathed into him of His spirit": He attributed the spirit to Himself, the Exalted, to honor it, just as in the expressions "the House of Allah" and "the She-camel of Allah," and to signal that it is a wondrous creation and a marvel of craftsmanship. It is also said: this attribution is an allusion to the fact that it possesses a nature which has a certain affinity to the Divine Presence.

Hence, Abu Bakr al-Razi said: "He who knows his own self has known his Lord." The "breathing of the spirit," it is said, is a metaphor for making it attached to the body, which is more consistent with the doctrine of those philosophers and some theologians—such as Hujjat al-Islam al-Ghazali, may mercy be upon him—who hold that the spirit is immaterial and does not enter the body. Others say it is literal, and the agent of it is the angel assigned to the womb. This is the view held by those who believe the spirit is a subtle body, like air, circulating in the body like the circulation of rose water in a rose or fire in charcoal; this is what the apparent meanings of the reports testify to, and the scholar Ibn al-Qayyim established about a hundred proofs for it.

"And He made for you hearing, and sight, and hearts": This is a shift to direct address. The significance of its mention after the breathing of the spirit and the honoring [of man] with the robe of direct address, when he became fit for address, is not hidden. The "making" is ibda'i (innovative creation), and the prepositional phrase [for you] relates to it. The precedence of [the indirect object] over the direct object occurs for the reason mentioned repeatedly: the importance of the antecedent and the creating of suspense for the subsequent, along with the fact that the shift [in order] prevents the length of the sentence from disrupting the conciseness of the Noble Arrangement. Hearing is mentioned first due to the abundance of its benefits, for most matters of religion are not known except through it. It is singular because it is originally a verbal noun (masdar).

It is said: [it is singular] to allude to the fact that its object of perception is of one type, which is sound, unlike sight, which perceives light, color, shape, motion, and stillness; and unlike the heart, which perceives the objects of the senses through them and in addition to that. Meaning: He created these senses for your benefit so that you might know that, while they are in themselves majestic blessings whose value cannot be estimated, they are also means to enjoy all other religious and worldly blessings bestowed upon you. You should be grateful for them by directing each one to that for which it was created: perceiving with your hearing the revealed verses that speak of Oneness and the Resurrection; perceiving with your sight the created verses that testify to them; and using your hearts to infer their truth.

His saying, the Exalted: "Little do you give thanks" is an explanation of their ingratitude for these blessings, appearing as an intercalary, tailing sentence. The "littleness" is in the sense of negation, as indicated by what follows it.

The adjective is in the accusative case as a description of a deleted noun that acts as the object of "you give thanks," meaning: "a little thanks you give," or "for a little time you give thanks."

Al-Khafaji, may mercy be upon him, considered it more likely that the sentence is a state (hal) rather than an intercalary sentence.