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Yusuf Ali 120
The previous verse told us that everything in heaven and
earth celebrates the glory of God. Lest anyone should
think that the heavens and the earth were themselves
primeval and eternal, we are now told that they
themselves are creatures of God's will and design. Cf
vi. 102, where the word bada'a is used as here for the
creation of the heavens and the earth, and khalaqa is
used for the creation of all things. Bada'a goes back to
the very primal beginning, as far as we can conceive it.
The materialists might say that primeval matter was
eternal; other things, i.e., the forms and shapes as we
see them now, were called into being at some time or
other, and will perish. When they perish, they dissolve
into primeval matter again, which stands as the base of
all existence. We go further back. We say that if we
postulate such primeval matter, it owes its origin itself
to God Who is the final basis of existence, the Cause of
all Causes. If this is conceded, we proceed to argue
that the process of Creation is not then completed. "All
things in the heavens and on the earth" are created by
gradual processes. In "things" we include abstract as
well as material things. We see the abstract things and
ideas actually growing before us. But that also is God's
creation, to which we can apply the word khalaqa, for in
it is involved the idea of measuring, fitting it into a
scheme of other things. Cf. liv. 49; also xxv. 59. Here
comes in what we know as the process of evolution. On
the other hand, the "amr" (=Command, Direction, Design)
is a single thing, unrelated to Time, "like the twinkling
of an eye" (liv. 50). Another word to note in this
connection is ja'ala "making" which seems to imply new
shapes and forms, new dispositions, as the making of the
Signs of the Zodiac in the heavens, or the setting out of
the sun and moon for light, or the establishment of the
succession of day and night (xxv 61-62). A further
process with regard to the soul is described in the word
sawwa, bringing it to perfection (xci. 7) but this we
shall discuss in its place. Fatara (xlii. 11) implies,
like bada'a, the creating of a thing out of nothing and
after no preexisting similitude, but perhaps fatara
implies the creation of primeval matter to which further
processes have to be applied later, as when one prepares
dough but leaves the leavining to be done after. Badaa
(without the 'ain), xxx. 27, implies beginning the
process of creation; this is made further clear in xxxii.
7 where the beginning of the creation of pristine man
from clay refers to his physical body, leaving the
further processes of reproduction and the breathing in of
the soul to be described in subsequent verses. Lastly,
baraa is creation implying liberation from pre-existing
matter or circumstance, e.g, man's body from clay (lix.
24) or a calamity from previously existing circumstances
(lvii. 22). See also vi. 94, n. 916; vi. 98, n. 923;
lix. 24, nn. 5405-6.
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