Page 445
ʾa-wa-lam yara l-ʾinsānu ʾannā khalaqnāhu min nuṭfatin fa-ʾidhā huwa khaṣīmun mubīnun
Does not man see that We created him from a drop of [seminal] fluid, and, behold, he is an open contender!?
— Ali Quli Qarai
36Yā-SīnيسVerse 77 of 83
Ya-Sin36. Yā-Sīnيس
Yā Sīn
Ya Sin
MeccanVerse 77 of 83
Surah Ya-Sin - Verses 77-78
77. “Has not man seen that We created him of a sperm-drop? Yet behold! He is an open disputant.”
78. “And he has struck for Us a similitude and forgotten his creation; he says: ‘Who shall quicken the bones when they are decayed?’”
Occasion of Revelation
In the majority of the concerning commentary books it has been cited that: A man from among the polytheists by the name of ’Ubay-ibn-Khalaf, or -ibn-Wa’il found a piece of rotten bone and said’Umayyat-ibn-Khalaf, or ‘As that by that firm proof he would stand with entity against Muhammad (S) and he might nullify his speech about Resurrection. He took that piece of stone and came to the Prophet of Islam (S). (Perhaps, he made a part of it as powder at the presence of the Prophet (S)) and said:
“Who can give life again to these decayed stones? (And which intellect may believe it?)”.
Then the abovementioned verses together with four verses after them were revealed and gave a logical firm answer to him and those who thought like him. The various discussions related to Origin, Resurrection, and prophethood, have been mentioned in Surah Ya-Sin in different sections. This Surah began with the name of the Holy Qur’an and the subject of prophethood, and it ends with seven related verses which contain the strongests statement about Resurrection.
At first, the Qur’an takes man to the beginning day of his life, the day when he was not more than a worthless sperm-drop, and makes him think. It says:
What an expressive meaning it is! At first it emphasizes on the word ‘man’, that is, every man with any belief and school of thought and with any amount of knowledge can find out this truth. Then it speaks of the Arabic word /nutfah/ which originally means: the naught worthless water; so that this proud and egoistic man thinks a little and knows that what he was on the first day. And, yet, the entire of this naught drop of water has not been the source of his entity, but a very small living cell, which cannot be seen by the ordinary eyes, among thousands cells which were floating in that drop of water, combined with a very small living cell which was in the woman’s womb, and then, from that very small being, man came into being.
This creature passed the developing stages one after another, that according to the statement of the Qur’an, at the beginning of Surah Al-Mu’minun, six stages of them are inside the womb: (the stages of: sperm, then clot, then a lump of flesh, then the appearance of bones, then they being covered with flesh, and, finally, the appearance of sense and movement in it.)14 After his birth, when he was a weak and unable child, he quickly passed the stages of development, too, until when he reached the stage of his puberty: the bodily and mental growth. Yes, this weak and unable creature became so strong and powerful that he let himself stand against Allah and forget his both past and future and become the clear example of:
It is interesting that the Qur’anic phrase /xasim-un-mubin/ (an open disputant) has an aspect of ‘strength’ and an aspect of ‘weakness’ that, apparently, here the Qur’an refers to both of them. From one side, this action is not done save by a human being that naturally has intellect, thought, understanding, and independent will, authority, and power. And we know that the most important thing in the man’s life is his ability of speaking, the contents of such speeches will formerly be provided in his thought, then they will be put together in the form of sentences and, like bullets of a gun, these sentences come out of the mouth and will be shot at the aim one after another.
This is the marvellous action that no living creature can do except man. And, thus, the holy verse illustrates the power of Allah in this great strength that He has given to this apparently insignificant drop of water. But, on the other side, man is a forgetful and proud being, and he uses these bounties, that He has bestowed on him, against Him and disputes inimically against Him. What an unaware and stubborn being he is! The next holy verse implicitly announces that for man’s unawareness this is enough that he struck a similitude for Allah and as he thought he had found a firm proof while he, forgetting his first creation, said:
The verse says:
The purpose of ‘striking similitude’ here is not an ordinary proverb or a simile and an allusion, but the purpose is the statement of a reasoning and mentioning an extension in order to prove a general matter. Yes, he (’Ubay-ibn-Khalaf, or ’Umayyat-ibn-Khalaf, or ‘As-ibn-Wa’il) finds a rotten bone in the desert. It was not known to whom that bone belonged. Whether he had died by a natural death, or he had been killed badly in one of the battles of the Age of Ignorance, or he had died because of hunger. However, he thought he had found a very firm proof.
With an anger accompanied with happiness, he takes the piece of bone of a dead person and says:
“By this firm proof I stand with enmity against Muhammad (S) So that he can not give any answer.”
He came hastily to the Prophet (S) and shouted saying:
“Who can give life to this rotten bone?”
Then he crushed a part of the bone into powder and scattered it on the ground. He thought the Prophet (S) would not have any answer for that logic. It is interesting that the Qur’an has given his whole answer in a short sentence, saying:
although next to it, the Qur’an has also mentioned some more explanation with more reasoning so it implies that if he had not forgotten his creation, he would not have attached such a weak and vain reasoning. O’ forgetful man, return back and look at your creation that you were an insignificant sperm and every day He put a new cloth of life on you. You are always in the state of death and resurrection. You were changed from the state of clot into an animal and you came out from that world and became a human being. But you, O’ forgetful man! Did you forget all these states and ask who gives life to these decayed bones?
When this bone decays completely, just it will become dust. Were you not dust at first?
Footnotes