The Prostration (As-Sajdah): Verses (6-9)

That is the Knower of the Unseen...

And His saying, the Exalted: {Then He made his offspring from a drop of humble fluid}

According to the first interpretation, this is apparent because Adam was created from clay, and his offspring originate from a humble fluid (the semen).

According to the second interpretation, His origin is from clay, and from that origin, offspring are produced from a humble fluid. If someone argues that the second interpretation is incorrect because His saying, {He began the creation of man} (32:7), followed by {Then He made his offspring}, indicates that the making of the offspring occurred after the creation of man from clay, we respond: No, the second interpretation is closer to the literal order. For He began by mentioning the matter from the very start of man's creation, saying He began him from clay, then made him an offspring, then fashioned him and breathed into him of His Spirit. If we follow your view, it becomes distant to say that {Then He fashioned him and breathed into him of His Spirit} refers back to Adam, because the particle thumma (then) implies a delay, meaning the fashioning would occur after the making of the offspring, which is after Adam's creation.

Know that the signs in the horizons (the universe) are more indicative of the perfection of Power, as He says: {The creation of the heavens and the earth is greater than the creation of mankind} (Ghafir: 57). The signs within the selves (human beings) are more indicative of the execution of the Will, because the changes within them are numerous. This is alluded to by His saying: {Then He made his offspring, then He fashioned him}—meaning, he was clay, then He made him semen, then He made him a well-formed human being.

And His saying, the Exalted: {And breathed into him of His Spirit}

The attribution of the Spirit to Himself is like attributing the House (the Ka'bah) to Him—it is for glorification. Know that the Christians fabricate lies against God, claiming that Jesus was the Spirit of God and His son. They do not know that every soul is a spirit from God, based on His saying: {And breathed into him of His Spirit}, meaning the Spirit that is His property, just as one says "my house" or "my servant." He did not say, "He gave him of His body," because the honor lies in the Spirit, so He attributed the Spirit, not the body, to what results from the breathing of the Spirit: hearing, sight, and intellect.

Thus, He said: {And He gave you hearing, and sight, and hearts; little are you thankful}.

In this, there are several issues:

He said, {And He gave you} (وجعل لكم), addressing [mankind] without addressing them before. This is because address is made to the living. After saying {And breathed into him of His Spirit}, He addressed him [mankind] afterward, saying, "He gave you."

If it is argued that the address occurred before, as in His saying: {And among His signs is that He created you from dust} (Ar-Rum: 20), we reply: There, He did not mention sequential matters; rather, He pointed to the completion of creation. Here, however, He mentioned sequential matters: being clay, then humble fluid, then a fashioned creation endowed with various strengthening faculties. Therefore, He addressed [mankind] at some stages but not others.

The order in [mentioning] hearing, sight, and hearts follows wisdom:

1. Man first hears things from his parents or people and understands them.
2. Because of this, he gains insight (basirah) to perceive things and act upon them.
3. Because of this, he attains complete perception and a full intellect, from which he extracts things.

The example is a person who first hears something from a teacher, then becomes capable of studying books and understanding their meanings, and then becomes capable of authoring and writing a book from his heart. Similarly, man first hears, then studies the pages of existence, and then learns hidden matters.

He mentioned the masdar (verbal noun, indicating the action/faculty itself) for hearing, but the ism (noun, indicating the organ/seat) for sight and the heart. Consequently, He pluralized sight (abṣār) and hearts (af’idah), but did not pluralize hearing (samʿ).

This is due to a wisdom: the masdar is not pluralized because hearing is a single faculty with a single action—a person cannot grasp two conversations simultaneously. The ear is its location, and it has no choice in the matter; sound reaches it from any direction, and it has no power to restrict its faculty to perceive only one thing while ignoring another.

As for sight, its location is the eye, and it has a semblance of choice in it, as it moves toward one visible object and away from another. Likewise, the heart is the location of perception, and it has a type of choice, turning toward what it wills and away from what it does not.

Since the location has no influence in hearing, the faculty itself is dominant. Therefore, He mentioned the faculty (the masdar) for hearing. For sight and the heart, where the location has some choice, He mentioned the noun (the ism), which refers to the location. This is because action is attributed to the one who chooses. Do you not see that you say, "Zayd heard" and "Amr saw," but rarely say, "Zayd's ear heard" or "Amr's eye saw"? This is because the chosen agent is the primary source, and the rest is its instrument.

Thus, hearing is primary because it lacks choice in its location. The eye and the heart are primary, and the faculty of sight and the faculty of understanding are their instruments. Therefore, He mentioned the masdar (the faculty) for hearing, and the ism (the location of the faculty) for sight and the heart. Furthermore, hearing has one faculty and one action; hence, a person cannot hear two conversations simultaneously in a manner that he grasps both, whereas he can perceive two or more images simultaneously and distinguish them.

Why is hearing mentioned first here, while the heart is mentioned first in His saying: {God has set a seal upon their hearts and upon their hearing} (Al-Baqarah: 7)?

This confirms what we have explained. In the context of giving (bestowal), He mentioned the lower faculty and ascended to the higher: He gave you hearing, then He gave you what is nobler than it, which is the heart. In the context of negation (sealing/withholding), He said they have no heart to perceive with, nor what is lower than it, which is the hearing by which they hear from one who possesses a heart that understands realities and derives them. We have already explained there the reason for delaying sight, even though it is intermediate in the order mentioned here: the heart and hearing are naturally deprived of their power [when sealed], so they were grouped together. The power of sight is deprived by placing a covering over it, so it was mentioned last.

Verse 7

{And they say, "When we are lost in the earth, shall we indeed be in a new creation?" Nay, they are in meeting with their Lord disbelievers!}