The Prostration (As-Sajdah): Verse 5

When Allah (Exalted is He) distinguished between creation and command, as He said: {Verily, to Him belong the creation and the command} (Al-A'raf: 54). Majesty is manifested through both. For one who possesses many great dominions possesses majesty, and when his command is effective among them, his majesty increases in the eyes of the creation. If his command lacks effectiveness, his majesty diminishes.

His saying, {then it ascends to Him} means—and Allah knows best—that His command descends from the heaven upon His servants, and their righteous deeds, which conform to that command, ascend to Him, because action is the effect of the command.

His saying, {in a Day the measure of which is a thousand years of what you count}, has several interpretations:

1. The duration of descent and ascent: The descent of the command and the ascent of the deeds take a span equivalent to a thousand years of what you count, occurring within a single day. Since the distance between heaven and earth is a journey of five hundred years, the descent takes five hundred years, and the ascent takes five hundred years, totaling a thousand years.
2. The extent of command enforcement: This points to the vastness of the command's enforcement. One whose command is enforced only briefly (in a day or two) is not like one whose command is enforced over long, continuous years. Thus, His saying {in a Day the measure of which is a thousand years} means that within the time of one day, the affair is managed over a span equivalent to a thousand years. Therefore, how much time would a month of it encompass, or a year, or an age? Under this interpretation, there is no difference between this and His saying {fifty thousand years}, as both refer to the perpetuity of command enforcement. The difference lies only in the degree of emphasis, which will be explained where appropriate, God willing.

(A subtle point here): In the preceding verse, Allah mentioned the world of bodies and creation, pointing to the majesty of dominion. In this verse, He mentions the world of spirits and command by saying, {He manages the affair}. The spirit is from the world of command, as He said: {And they ask you about the spirit. Say, "The spirit is of the affair of my Lord"} (Al-Isra: 85). He indicated its perpetuity with a term that suggests time, while the intent is the perpetuity of existence. This is similar to how people customarily say, "So-and-so's time has been long," even though time itself does not lengthen; rather, what occurs within time extends over many periods, thus making that duration seem long. There, He pointed to the majesty of dominion through place (the physical realm), and here, He points to its perpetuity through time (the realm of command). Place is His creation and dominion, while time is subject to His decree and command.

Know that the apparent meaning of {He manages the affair} in a day suggests that His command occurs within a specific, bounded time (a day has a beginning and an end). This would imply His command is contingent and created. Some who hold that Allah is established upon the Throne (Istawa) argue that His command, even the letters and the word Kun (Be), is eternal. How then can the word on (implying establishment in a place) be understood to mean He is in a location, yet the word in (implying occurrence within a time frame) is not understood to mean His command is temporal?

Then, He clarified that this great King, whose command is effective, is not heedless. For a king who commands and forbids must be obeyed, but if he were heedless, he would not be awe-inspiring or great. He is, rather, {All-Knowing, Vigilant}, so that nothing in the dominions or among the subjects escapes His notice. He said: {That is the Knower of the unseen and the seen}.

After mentioning the world of forms through {He created the heavens and the earth} and the world of spirits through {He manages the affair from the heaven to the earth}, He said: {Knower of the unseen} (referring to what is in the spirits) and {the seen} (referring to what is in the bodies). Alternatively, {the unseen} refers to what has not yet occurred, and {the seen} refers to what has existed. The precedence of knowledge of the unseen indicates the perfection of knowledge, as it is a stronger testimony to that perfection.

Then, He said: {The All-Mighty, the Most Merciful}. After establishing that He is All-Knowing, He stated that He is Al-'Aziz (All-Mighty), capable of vengeance against the disbelievers, and Ar-Rahim (Most Merciful), possessing vast mercy for the righteous.

Then, He said: {Who has perfected everything He created and began the creation of man from clay}. After presenting the proof for His Oneness from the horizons through {He created the heavens and the earth and all that is between them} and completing it with its necessary components, He presented the proof from the selves by saying: {Who has perfected everything He created}. This means He perfected everything mentioned previously. He clarified that what is between the heavens and the earth is His creation, and indeed it is so. If you observe things, you see them as they ought to be: the firmness of the earth for vegetation, the lightness of the air for inhalation, the capacity for division for ease of passage, the flow of water so we can access it everywhere, and the upward motion of fire. For if fire moved horizontally like water, the world would burn; thus, it was created seeking the upward direction where nothing exists that can accept combustion.

His saying: {And began the creation of man from clay} is interpreted to mean Adam (peace be upon him), as he was created from clay. It can also be argued that clay is a mixture of water and earth, while the origin of man is semen (manī), which originates from nourishment (ghidhā’). Nourishment is either animal or plant-based, and animal nourishment ultimately reverts to plant-based nourishment, whose existence depends on water and earth—which is clay.

Verse 7

He then made his offspring from a drop of insignificant fluid (sulaalah min mā’in mahīn).

Then He proportioned him (thumma sawwāhu) and breathed into him of His spirit (wa nafakha fīhi min rūḥihi), and made for you hearing and vision and hearts (wa ja‘ala lakum as-sam‘a wal-abṣāra wal-af’idah); little are you grateful (qalīlan mā tashkurūn).