Khalaqa al-insana min salsalin kalfakhkhar (surah Rahman: 14)

Tafseer Tafheem-ul-Quran by Syed Abu-al-A'la Maududi

(55:14) He has created man from dry, rotten clay like the potter's, *14

Khalaqal insaana min salsaalin kalfakhkhaari

*14) The order of the initial stages of the creation of man, as given at different places in the Qur'an seems to be as follows: (1) Turab, i.e. earth or dust; (2) Tin, i.e. clay made by mixing water with earth; (3) tin-i-lazib: sticky clay, i.e. a clay which becomes sticky when left alone for a long time; (4) hama in musnun, i.e. clay with a stink in it; (S) salsal-im-min hems in masnun kalfakhkhar. i.e. the rotten clay which when dried becomes like baked pottery; (ti) bashar, i.e.. the one who was made from this last form of the earth, in whom Allah breathed of His Spirit, to whom the angels were commanded to bow down, and from whose species his mate was created; (7) thumma ja ala nasla-hu min sulala-tin-min-ma 'in mahin: 'then spread his progeny by means of an extract of the nature of a despicable water', for which the word nutfah has been used at other places. For these stages one may look up the following verses of the Qur'an in sequence: ka-melba/-i Adalla khalaqa-hu min turab (AI-'Imran : 59); bed's khalqal-insan-i min tin (As Sajdah: 7); Inna khalaq-na hum min tin-il-/azib (As-Saaffat: 11): the fourth and fifth stages have been described in the verse being explained, and the later stages in the following verses : Inni khaliq-un bashar an-nun tin. Faidha sa wwaitu-hu wa nafakhtu-fi -hi min-ruhi fa-qa ,u-lahu sajidin. (Suad : 71-72); khalaqa-kum min-nafs in wahidatin wa khalaqa nun-ha zauja-ha wa baththa minhuma rijal-an kathir-an wa nisa-an. (An -Nisa':1) ; thumma Ja ala nasla-hu min sulata-tin-min mmaa'-in -mahin. (As-Sajdah: 8); fa-inna khalaq-na-kum min turabin thumma min nutfs-tin. (AI-Hajj:5).