يَـٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلنَّاسُ إِن كُنتُمْ فِى رَيْبٍ مِّنَ ٱلْبَعْثِ فَإِنَّا خَلَقْنَـٰكُم مِّن تُرَابٍ ثُمَّ مِن نُّطْفَةٍ ثُمَّ مِنْ عَلَقَةٍ ثُمَّ مِن مُّضْغَةٍ مُّخَلَّقَةٍ وَغَيْرِ مُخَلَّقَةٍ لِّنُبَيِّنَ لَكُمْ ۚ وَنُقِرُّ فِى ٱلْأَرْحَامِ مَا نَشَآءُ إِلَىٰٓ أَجَلٍ مُّسَمًّى ثُمَّ نُخْرِجُكُمْ طِفْلًا ثُمَّ لِتَبْلُغُوٓا۟ أَشُدَّكُمْ ۖ وَمِنكُم مَّن يُتَوَفَّىٰ وَمِنكُم مَّن يُرَدُّ إِلَىٰٓ أَرْذَلِ ٱلْعُمُرِ لِكَيْلَا يَعْلَمَ مِنۢ بَعْدِ عِلْمٍ شَيْـًٔا ۚ وَتَرَى ٱلْأَرْضَ هَامِدَةً فَإِذَآ أَنزَلْنَا عَلَيْهَا ٱلْمَآءَ ٱهْتَزَّتْ وَرَبَتْ وَأَنۢبَتَتْ مِن كُلِّ زَوْجٍۭ بَهِيجٍ 5
Translations
O people, if you should be in doubt about the Resurrection, then [consider that] indeed, We created you from dust, then from a sperm-drop, then from a clinging clot, and then from a lump of flesh, formed and unformed - that We may show you. And We settle in the wombs whom We will for a specified term, then We bring you out as a child, and then [We develop you] that you may reach your [time of] maturity. And among you is he who is taken in [early] death, and among you is he who is returned to the most decrepit [old] age so that he knows, after [once having] knowledge, nothing. And you see the earth barren, but when We send down upon it rain, it quivers and swells and grows [something] of every beautiful kind.
Transliteration
Ya ayyuha al-nasu in kuntum fi raybin min al-ba'thi fa-inna khalaqnakum min turab thumma min nutfatin thumma min 'alaqatin thumma min mudghatin mukhallaqatin wa ghayri mukhallaqatin li-nubayyina lakum wa-nuqirru fi al-arhami ma nasha'u ila ajal musammun thumma nukhrijukum tiflun thumma li-tablughoo ashiddakum wa-minkum man yutawaffa wa-minkum man yuraddu ila ardhali al-'umuri li-kay la ya'lama min ba'di 'ilmin shay'an wa-tara al-arda hamidatan fa-idha anzalna 'alayha al-ma'a ihtazzat wa-rabat wa-anbat min kulli zawjin bahij
Tafsir (Explanation)
This ayah refutes doubt about resurrection (ba'th) by presenting empirical evidence of Allah's creative power through the stages of human development from dust to a living being, and through the resurrection of dead earth with water. Ibn Kathir notes that these physical transformations—from earth to sperm to clot to formed and unformed flesh—demonstrate Allah's capability to resurrect the dead just as He initially created them. The parallel drawn between human and terrestrial rebirth serves as a logical proof (burhan) that the One who creates life from lifelessness in both cases can certainly resurrect humanity.
Revelation Context
This ayah is part of Surah Al-Hajj (revealed in Madinah), which addresses various aspects of faith, pilgrimage, and divine signs. The specific context is addressing those who express doubt (rayb) about the Day of Resurrection, a common theme among the Meccan disbelievers and skeptics of the hereafter. The ayah uses the physical reality of human embryonic development and agricultural renewal as proof against such skepticism.
Related Hadiths
1) The Prophet (ﷺ) said: 'The example of this life and the Hereafter is like that of the right hand and left hand' (Sunan Ibn Majah). 2) Regarding creation stages: 'When forty-two nights have passed over the embryo, Allah sends an angel...' (Sahih Muslim 2643), describing the ensoulment process alluded to in this verse's mention of khalq (formation).
Themes
Key Lesson
This ayah invites reflection on the miraculous nature of our own creation as proof of divine power and our responsibility to believe in the hereafter; modern readers can see in scientific understanding of fetal development a confirmation rather than contradiction of Quranic truth, strengthening faith through observed reality.