Quran Garden

Session 538

Chapter 4

Verse 1

a continuation

People, be mindful of your Lord, who created you from a single soul, and from it created its mate, and from the pair of them spread numerous men and women far and wide; be mindful of God, in whose name you make requests of one another.  Beware of severing the ties of kinship: God is watchful over you.  (Chapter 4: Verse 1)

Many people get lost in the debate over whether Eve was created from Adam's rib.  Does the phrase "from it created its mate" mean that Eve was literally part of Adam?  Some scholars believe so, while others argue that "from it" means from the same kind.  They point to the following verse as evidence.  God says,

Indeed, there has come to you a Messenger from your own.  Your suffering distresses him: he is deeply concerned for you and full of kindness and mercy towards the believers. (9:128)

Did Allah create Muhammad from our souls and beings?  No, he, peace be upon him, was a messenger from our human species, from his people and tribe.  

A good part of Eve's creation had been concealed from us, but the phrase, "from it created its mate," seems like a clue from the Almighty.  The Quran gave us a detailed description of the creation of the first human, Adam: his formation from clay and the stages until he became a human male.  Eve, the second human, may have been created in the same manner.  Thus, the phrase, "and from it created its mate," means from the same process, from clay formed through stages until she became a human female.  There was no need to repeat the story.  This is a likely scenario. 

God wants to free us from the maze of doubts about how we came into being.  Since we didn't witness creation ourselves, and it isn't something we can test in a lab or through a computer model, we should look for proof from those who witnessed it.  The creator of humans is the only authority to speak, so let's listen to His words.   God says,

I did not make them witnesses to the creation of the heavens and earth, nor to their own creation; I do not take as My supporters those who lead others astray.  (18:51)

People like Darwin speak out of sheer arrogance and ignorance, claiming to know how life and humans were created.  God responds, "I do not take as My supporters those who lead others astray." It is as if Allah has given us immunity from the false statements that are sure to come about creation.  The Almighty pre-labeled anyone who speaks on how life started as a misleader.  They were not with God to witness or assist at the time of creation, so they have no ground to stand on.  Whoever claims such knowledge is misguided and can only divert you from the truth to falsehood.  If you want to know, only look to the source of creation.  To all others, the Almighty responds with, "I do not take as My supporters those who lead others astray."

Fortunately, modern scientists and philosophers are chipping away at established theories, such as Darwin's evolution claims.  They started asking: How come the factors that affected the first ape to become human did not continue to impact modern apes to become humans?  Where are the "missing links" and intermediate creatures between the species today?  Such are questions that Darwin's enthusiasts struggle to answer.  Other researchers pointed out that it is a mathematically impossible coincidence that evolution or mutations would simultaneously produce a male and a female that belong to the same species but differ in gender.  Then, at the exact moment in history, an irresistible hormonal urge develops between them to mate, producing a male like the first or a female like the second.  How do such miraculous coincidences happen?  We answer that what you call a coincidence is the work of the Most Knowledgeable and Most Wise.  Furthermore, the Quran addressed this issue by saying, "People, be mindful of your Lord, who created you from a single soul, and from it created its mate." This is the greatness of our Lord; He created a man and a woman of the same species but differ in gender, so when they meet, Allah creates many men and women from them.  This deliberate process is full of care, purpose, and wisdom. 

It is most interesting that non-Muslim scientists and philosophers often arrive at evidence and conclusions that align with the Qur'an.  It's as if the Almighty has facilitated such data for them because when proof and testimony come from outside the fold of Islam, it tends to have a much more profound impact.     

This brings us back to the verse.  God says, "People, be mindful of your Lord, who created you from a single soul, and from it created its mate." Here, we ask, Why didn't God just say, 'Be mindful of your Lord, who created you from two?' We answer that when something is attributed to two sources, there may be disagreements between them; one may have inclinations differing from the other.  But when matters are attributed to one, there is unity.  God continues, "And from the pair of them spread numerous men and women far and wide." The choice of the word "spread" is beautiful because humanity must disperse throughout the earth to enjoy the blessings of Allah on different regions of the planet.  

In the Arabic language, the description is usually repeated for the masculine and the feminine in the same sentence.  In other words, the verse should have read, 'From the pair of them spread numerous men and numerous women far and wide.' Why was the word 'numerous' omitted?  Why did Allah choose to simply say "women" instead of specifying "and numerous women"?  The answer lies in biology, especially among large mammals, where it is common for the number of males in a species to be lower, sometimes significantly, than the number of females.  For example, how many male and female trees do you find in a field of date palm trees?  Generally, one male date palm for every 40-100 female trees.  Similar ratios are seen in camels, deer, and other animals.  The scarcity of males is intentional because one male can impregnate many females.

Now let's apply this natural rule to the phrase "and from the pair of them spread numerous men and women."  The speaker here is God Almighty, so we should pay attention to every word spoken or omitted.  God mentions "numerous men," the gender typically fewer in number, but omits "numerous" for women.  This omission aligns with natural law; if there are "numerous men," then it follows, for those who take time to study the Quran, that there must be even more numerous women.

This magnificent Aya also solves the creation issue for us from a statistical point of view.  When God says, "People, be mindful of your Lord, who created you from a single soul, and from it created its mate, and from the pair of them spread numerous men and women far and wide," we understand that all of us started from a single pair, male and female.  The human population is almost always on an uptrend.  The population of countries today is more than in the last century, much more than in the century before, and so on.  Egypt's population a century ago did not exceed fifteen million; today, it is over one hundred million.  We see the same pattern in a single family.  Your grandparents started as two, and if God gave them a long age, they may see their family grow to over twenty children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren.  The farther we go into the future, the more the population increases.  Likewise, if you look to the past, the number decreases until it eventually reaches just two.  Be careful not to say it reaches one, because one cannot reproduce.  Where did these two come from?  Someone capable and wise must have created them.  God says,

People, be mindful of your Lord, who created you from a single soul, and from it created its mate, and from the pair of them spread numerous men and women far and wide

If the Almighty had said, "created you from a single soul," then stopped, matters would have been incomplete and inconsistent with biology and the Quran.  Why?  Because God says in other verses about creation,

And We created all things in pairs so you would hopefully pay heed.  (51:49)

Glory be to Him who created all the pairs: from what the earth produces and from themselves and from things unknown to them.  (36:36)

Another way to look at the phrase, "from the pair of them spread numerous men and women far and wide," is that the activity on earth is more specific to men who are supposed to go out to gather food, travel to work, and hunt, while women take care of the children and household.  God says, addressing men,

Then when the prayer has ended, disperse in the land and seek out God's bounty.  Remember God often so that you may prosper.  (62:10)