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fa-staftihim ʾa-hum ʾashaddu khalqan ʾam man khalaqnā ʾinnā khalaqnāhum min ṭīnin lāzibin
Ask them, is their creation more prodigious or [that of other creatures] that We have created? Indeed, We created them from a viscous clay.
— Ali Quli Qarai
Surah As-Saffat – Verses 11-12
11. “Then ask their opinion whether they are stronger in creation or (the others) whom we have created. Verily We created them of a sticky clay.”
12. “Nay! you wonder while they mock.”
We can adjust the mockers and proud persons by reminding them their own source of creation. These two verses also pursue the subject of Resurrection and the opposition of the obstinate rejecters, and following the previous discussion about the Power of Allah over everything, Who is the Creator of the heaven and the earth, the first verse says:
Yes, Allah has created them of a simple thing, from a piece of sticky clay. It seems that the polytheists, who had denied Resurrection, after hearing the former verses concerning the creation of the heavens, the earth and the angels, stated that their creation was more important than them. In answer to them the Holy Qur’an implies that the men’s creation compared with the creation of the earth and the vast heaven and the angels, which are in these worlds, is not such a significant thing, because the creation of man was from a little amount of sticky dust.
The Arabic phrase /’istaftihim/ is derived from /’istifta’/ which originally means ‘asking for some new news’. And that a young man is called in Arabic /fata/ is because of the freshness of his body and soul.2 This application points to this fact that if they really know their creation more important and stronger than the creation of the heaven and the angels, they say a new word which is void of example. The Arabic term /lazib/, as some have said, originally has been /lazim/ the ‘m’ of which has changed into ‘b’ and now it is used in this form.
However, it means some mud which is sticky, since the source of the creation of man at first was ‘dust’, then it was mixed with water and, little by little, it changed into a bad smell slime, and then it became a sticky mud. (And, thus, by this statement the different meanings in various verses of the Qur’an are gathered here) Then, the Holy Qur’an implicitly says: you wonder of their denial concerning the Resurrection while they mock it. It says:
By your pure heart, you see the matter so clear that you surprise of their denial, but these impure hearted people count this matter so impossible that they begin to mock.
Footnotes