Surah Sad, 71-72
Creation from Clay
In the Qur'an, Allah reveals that the creation of the human is a miracle. The first human being was created by Allah shaping clay into human form and breathing a soul into it:
In the Qur'an, Allah reveals that the creation of the human is a miracle. The first human being was created by Allah shaping clay into human form and breathing a soul into it:
إِذْ قَالَ رَبُّكَ لِلْمَلَٰٓئِكَةِ إِنِّى خَٰلِقٌۢ بَشَرًۭا مِّن طِينٍۢ ٧١ فَإِذَا سَوَّيْتُهُۥ وَنَفَخْتُ فِيهِ مِن رُّوحِى فَقَعُوا۟ لَهُۥ سَٰجِدِينَ ٧٢
Your Lord said to the angels, " I am going to create a human being out of clay. When I have formed him and breathed My Spirit into him, fall down in prostration to him!"
فَٱسْتَفْتِهِمْ أَهُمْ أَشَدُّ خَلْقًا أَم مَّنْ خَلَقْنَآ ۚ إِنَّا خَلَقْنَٰهُم مِّن طِينٍۢ لَّازِبٍۭ ١١
Then inquire of them: Is it they who are stronger in structure or other things We have created? We created them from sticky clay.
When the human body is examined today, it may be discovered that many elements present on the earth are also to be found in the body. Living tissues contain 95% carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, phosphorus and sulphur, with a total of 26 different elements.1
In another verse of the Qur'an we are told:
وَلَقَدْ خَلَقْنَا ٱلْإِنسَٰنَ مِن سُلَٰلَةٍۢ مِّن طِينٍۢ ١٢
We created man from an extract of clay.
The Arabic word " sulaalah ," translated as "extract" in the verse, means "representative example, essence." As we have seen, the information revealed in the Qur'an 1,400 years ago confirms what modern science tells us-the fact that the same elements are employed in human creation as those found in the soil.
Below is a diagram showing the distribution of the elements in a 70-kilo (140 pound)human being.
Footnotes
- Kevin Griffin, "The Elemental Composition of Life," www.ldeo.columbia.edu/dees/ees/life/lectures/lect21.html ↩
