خَصِيمٌ

18:38; 22:6; 23:13-14; 35:12; 36:78; 40:68.

Important Words:

نطفة (drop of fluid) is noun-infinitive from نطف. نطف الماء means, the water flowed little by little. نطفة means, the sperm of a man or [ovum of] a woman; clear water whether much or little; (Lane & Aqrab).

Commentary:

The verse means to say that after God had created the heavens and the earth according to a definite system of laws, He created man and sent down His revelation for his guidance. But notwithstanding the fact that after having created man from an apparently contemptible seed, God endowed him with highest faculties, yet he, instead of acting upon the guidance vouchsafed to him by God, begins to question His powers and prerogatives. Some men are so presumptuous as to say that God could not bring the universe into existence from non-existence and that it had come into existence by itself. Others say that God did not create matter, but has only arbitrarily subjected it to His control. Yet others object that God has no right to impose a law upon man and that man is a free agent and can frame a law for his own use. In this way these people begin to deny the favours of God and declare themselves independent of Him. The verse supplies an answer to all these objections.

The verse also implies the beautiful hint that while on the one hand man, in spite of being created from an apparently contemptible substance, begins to arrogate to himself such greatness as even to presume to dispute God’s authority; on the other he refuses to admit that God Who created him from a mere sperm and endowed him with such noble qualities has the power to raise an apparently lowly and humble man to the rank of a Prophet.

The verse may also suggest that it certainly could not be the object of the creation of the universe that only a disobedient and sinful man should have come into being. God’s purpose in creating the universe must have been quite different and much higher and nobler. If such is the case, then why should men wonder when there appears in the world a noble personage who fulfils the real object and purpose of God’s creation?

The verse also implies a reply to an objection raised by the opponents of the Prophets. They look down upon them and regard them as contemptible persons unworthy of such distinction. The opponents of the Holy Prophet held similar views with regard to him, as is apparent from 43:32. The verse draws the attention of disbelievers to man’s humble and lowly beginning to point the moral that when from such humble beginnings men can rise to great eminence and glory, why is it impossible that God should raise to spiritual eminence a man who appears contemptible and humble in their eyes?

18:38; 22:6; 23:14; 35:12; 40:68.

Commentary:

Continuing the theme of the preceding verse, the present verse may be taken as saying to the Holy Prophet that he has no cause to grieve over his rejection by disbelievers when they, forgetting their insignificant origin, have the hardihood even to doubt and dispute God’s own Almightiness. This is one meaning of the verse. But this and the next two verses may also constitute an answer to those disbelievers who doubt the possibility of a spiritually dead people rising to a new and vigorous life. Or these verses may point to the inevitability of Resurrection, saying that when God can raise a dead people like the Arabs to new life through the Holy Prophet, He does certainly possess the power to give new life to dead and decayed bones.