Tafsir of At-Tariq 86:6

"He was created from a gushing fluid" is a new inception occurring as an answer to an implied inquiry, as if it were said: "From what was he created?" So, it was said: "He was created from a fluid, etc." The apparent meaning of some eminent scholars is that it is an answer to the mentioned inquiry, with the prepositional phrase being attached to [the verb] "let man consider" (yanzur). In this, there is some laxity, as if the intended meaning is that it is in the form of an answer, and designating it as an answer in reality—while it is severed from "let man consider"—is a position held by those who examine [the text].

Dafq (gushing) is pouring with force and rapid flow. By "gushing fluid" (ma'in dafiq), semen is intended. It has been said that dafiq has the meaning of mafquq (poured out), interpreting the active participle as a passive participle; Zayd ibn Ali—may Allah be pleased with both of them—read it as such. Al-Khalil and Sibawayh stated that it is a relative adjective, similar to laban (milky) and tamir (having dates), meaning "possessing gushing," which is true for both the agent and the recipient.

It is also said that it is an active participle and its attribution to the fluid is metaphorical; the action of its possessor is attributed to it for the sake of hyperbole. Or, it is a kinayah (allusive) and takhayyuliyyah (imaginative) metaphor, as al-Sakkaki held, or an explicit metaphor by designating it as dafiq (gushing) because, due to the succession of its drops, it is as if it pushes—meaning one part pushes the other.

Ibn Atiyyah interpreted dafq as daf' (pushing/propelling), saying: Dafq is the pushing of water, some of it against some of the other. It is said, "The valley or the flood tadaffaqa (gushed/surged)" when it comes with parts riding upon other parts. It is valid for the fluid to be dafiq because some of it pushes some other; thus, some of it is an agent of pushing and some is pushed. Abu Hayyan critiqued this, saying that dafq in the sense of daf' (pushing) is not preserved in the language; rather, what is preserved is that it means pouring. He quoted from al-Layth that dafaqa means to pour at once, so dafiq means poured; thus, there is no need for interpretation. This was critiqued by noting that it is something unique to al-Layth, as stated in al-Qamus and other works.

It has been said: "From a fluid," even though a human is not created except from two fluids: the fluid of the man and the fluid of the woman. For this reason, the creation of Isa—peace be upon him—was a breach of custom. The intended meaning is the fluid mixed from both in the womb; through mixing, they became a single fluid. Its description as "gushing" is said to be in consideration of one of its two parts, which is the man's semen, or it is said to be in consideration of both, for the woman's fluid also gushes into the womb. The statement of the Exalted, [which will follow], points to the intention of the mixture, as has been said.