al-Najm 53:45-47

Wa annahu khalaqa'l-zawjayni'l-dhakara wa'l-unthā · Min nuṭfatin idhā tumnā · Wa anna ʿalayhi'l-nashʾata'l-ukhrā "And that He created the two mates, the male and the female. From a drop when it is emitted. And that the other bringing-forth rests upon Him."

Root: ز-و-ج. This root was analysed in the section al-Takwīr (81/7: wa idha'l-nufūsu zuwwijat); I do not repeat it. The important note on language recorded there:

In Arabic zawj does not convey marriage alone. It is used of everything that consists of two.

ٱلزَّوْجَيْنِ is dual: "two mates, a pair."

And in the section al-Nabaʾ this verse was already used as evidence (on the occasion of al-Nabaʾ 78/8: wa khalaqnākum azwājā); there, in a table of two views, "al-Najm 53/45: He created the two mates, the male and the female" was given as the ground of the "male and female" reading.

As recorded above in the section on verses 27-28, the word ٱلْأُنثَىٰ occurs here for the third and last time in this sūra.

And its position changes completely:

And the word ٱلذَّكَر comes back in the same way:

Verse 21: a-lakumu'l-dhakaru wa lahu'l-unthā — "is the male yours and the female His?" Verse 45: khalaqa'l-zawjayni'l-dhakara wa'l-unthā — "He created the two mates, the male and the female."

The same two words, in the same order, in the same sūra — once as part of a calumny, once as a record of creation.

This is a repetition verifiable within the sūra, and the comparison of the two verses rests on data of the text.

And the difference between them is this — I record it as my own reading:

In the twenty-first verse the two words were being divided up: one to you, the other to Him. In the forty-fifth both are placed on the same side: both are created.

The sūra cancels, that is, the division the one addressed made — and with the very same two words. At the twenty-second verse it had been said "this is an unfair division". The forty-fifth verse shows what the right division is: both on one side, the Creator on the other.

And a note must be entered on this reading: twenty-four verses lie between the two verses, and the section in between is on entirely other subjects. I do not present it as a definite intention that the sūra establishes this relation deliberately; the repetition of the words, on the other hand, is a countable datum, and the repetition itself is worth noting.

Root: ن-ط-ف. Concrete sense: to drip, to trickle. Naṭafa — it dripped; nuṭfa — a drop of water. The word is used also of the small amount of water left in a bucket.

The word conveys quantity: smallness. The Qurʾān uses this word regularly for the beginning of man and each time sets up a disproportion: "Has man not seen that We created him from a drop? And then he is an open adversary" (Yā Sīn 36/77).

Root: م-ن-ي. The root comes here for the third time in the sūra: Manāt (20), tamannā (24), and now tumnā (46).

This root was analysed in the section al-Qiyāma, and precisely this expression was taken up there (al-Qiyāma 75/37: min maniyyin yumnā). What was recorded there:

- مَنَىٰ (manā) — he measured out, he apportioned, he determined. - مَنِىّ (manī) — what is poured out. - مَنِيَّة (maniyya) — death; "what has been apportioned". - أُمْنِيَّة (umniyya) — wishing, fancy. The name of the beginning of life, the name of fancy and the name of death thus come from the same root — because all three attach to the idea of "what is apportioned, what is measured". I transmit this connection as a lexical observation; I pass no definite ruling on the historical development of the root and build no interpretation upon it.

The same reserve holds here.

But that the root occurs three times in this sūra is a datum and is worth recording:

The sūra uses three derivatives of the same root in three different positions. I record this as an observation and build no ruling upon it — the distribution of the word may also be a coincidence, since the derivatives of the root are widespread in Arabic.

That the verb is passive (tumnā — when it is emitted) is worth recording too: the beginning of man is recounted by an act man does not perform.

A variant reading is transmitted: it is stated that the verb is also read يُمْنَىٰ (yumnā, masculine). The difference lies in whether the verb attaches to nuṭfa (feminine) or to the thing emitted (masculine). I do not name an imam; it produces no difference of meaning.

And a note: in the section al-ʿAlaq five grounds were given for not entering into claims about embryology, and the same stance was kept in the section al-Qiyāma. I keep the same stance in this section too; per the method (Method) no modern information is fitted onto the verse.

Root: ن-ش-أ. This root was treated in the sections al-Mulk, al-Muzzammil and al-Raḥmān. What was recorded in the section on al-Muzzammil: "its concrete sense: to be born, to grow, to come forth, to rise."

And in the section on al-Mulk its difference from khalaqa was dwelt on. The two verbs stand side by side in these three verses:

Verse 45: wa annahu خَلَقَ 'l-zawjayn — He created Verse 47: wa anna ʿalayhi ٱلنَّشْأَة 'l-ukhrā — the bringing-forth

عَلَيْهِ — here is the real nicety of the word order.

The sentence is not wa anna'l-nashʾata'l-ukhrā ʿalayhi; عَلَيْهِ has been brought forward. As recorded above at verse 42, fronting conveys restriction.

And the particle عَلَىٰ conveys obligation in Arabic: "a debt upon him, within his responsibility."

The sentence says, then: the second bringing-forth is a work He has taken upon Himself.

And this is a striking manner of expression. It could have said "He has the power for the other bringing-forth" (an expression of power). It could have said "He will perform the other bringing-forth" (an expression of report). It says "it is upon Him" — an expression of undertaking.

I record this as an observation; that the particle ʿalā conveys obligation is a grammatical datum.

And the logical link is built across three verses:

The proof is thus: the one who brought a human being out of a drop can bring him out a second time.

And the Qurʾān sets up this proof explicitly with the same word in another place:

"You have known the first bringing-forth (al-nashʾata'l-ūlā); will you not then take heed?" (al-Wāqiʿa 56/62)

The same word, with the opposite adjective: al-Najm al-nashʾata'l-ukhrā (the other bringing-forth), al-Wāqiʿa al-nashʾata'l-ūlā (the first bringing-forth). The two sūras hold the two ends of the same word — one known, the other undertaken. This verse of al-Wāqiʿa was treated in the section al-Wāqiʿa.