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allāhu lladhī khalaqakum min ḍaʿfin thumma jaʿala min baʿdi ḍaʿfin quwwatan thumma jaʿala min baʿdi quwwatin ḍaʿfan wa-shaybatan yakhluqu mā yashāʾu wa-huwa l-ʿalīmu l-qadīru
It is Allah who created you from [a state of] weakness, then He gave you power after weakness. Then, after power, He ordained weakness and old age: He creates whatever He wishes, and He is the All-knowing, the All-powerful.
— Ali Quli Qarai
Surah Ar-Room – Verse 54
54. “Allah is He Who created you out of weakness, then He gave strength after weakness, then after strength He appointed weakness and grey hair; He creates what He pleases, and He is the Knowing, the Powerful.”
At the beginning of his creation, man is thoroughly full of weakness. The man’s stages of weakness and power are designed wisely in a program. Of course, this noble verse refers to one of the proofs of Monotheism, i.e., the proof of poverty and needlessness. It completes the discussions about Monotheism cited throughout this Surah. It says:
At the beginning you were so weak that you were not able even to send away a fly from yourself, or hold up your saliva; this is from the point of body; and from the mental view-point, as the Qur’anic term /la ta‘lamun/ indicates, (you did not know anything) you did not know even your kind parents who permanently took care of you. But, little by little, you became bodily and mentally powerful and, just like a person who ascend a mountain from its lap until he reaches its top, you began to come down from other side of it and you reached the bottom of the valley of weakness and became unable bodily and spiritually.
These changes, and these ascents and descents are the best proof for this fact that neither that power was yours nor was this weakness, but both of them were from the side of Allah, and this itself is a sign that another one turns the wheel of your entity, and whatever you have is accidental. This is the same meaning that Amir-ul-Mu’mineen Ali (as) has pointed to in his saying where he says:
“I came to know Allah, the Glorifies, through the breaking of determinations, change of intentions and losing of courage.” 1
It is interesting that the Holy Qur’an also adds the Arabic word /šaybah/ (grey hair) for the second weakness of man during his lifetime, but in regard to the first weakness it does not mention ‘childhood’. This difference may point to the fact that the weakness of senility is rather more painful, because firstly contrary to the weakness of childhood, it has a direction toward death and annihilation and, secondly, the expectation from the aged, old, and experienced persons is never like that from the babies, while sometimes their weakness and disability are equal, and this is very instructive.
It is this stage that draws the disobedient powerful persons to weakness, despicableness, and helplessness. The last sentence of the verse, which is an indication to the knowledge and Power of Allah, is both a glad tidings and a warning implying that He is aware of all your deeds and intentions and also He is able to give you both reward and retribution.
Footnotes