Ali 'Imran · Madani · ayah 59 of 200

Ali 'Imran 3:59

إِنَّ مَثَلَ عِيسَىٰ عِندَ ٱللَّهِ كَمَثَلِ ءَادَمَ ۖ خَلَقَهُۥ مِن تُرَابٍ ثُمَّ قَالَ لَهُۥ كُن فَيَكُونُ

“Indeed, the example of Jesus to Allāh[127] is like that of Adam. He created him from dust; then He said to him, "Be," and he was.”

Saheeh International

Essence

ʿĪsā's creation is like Adam's, from dust and the word 'Be'; a fatherless birth points to the Creator, not to divinity.

A reflection

Dust, and a word

A woman kneels in her garden in October, pressing bulbs into cold soil. Her hands are black with earth. It occurs to her, quite suddenly, that everything she is began as this: dust, given form and breath by a word.

'He created him from dust; then He said to him, "Be", and he was'. The ayah is about ʿĪsā, but it reaches every human being through Adam, the father of all. A classical commentator notes that the Quran names Adam as the first father, from whom every person comes.

The lexicons give turāb, dust, two origins. The first is the ground itself. A man was said to tariba when he became so poor that nothing lay between him and the earth. The second is equality. A tirb is a peer, someone born at the same time. Dust is what we came from, and dust makes us equals.

This is where every ego is brought down to the ground it came from. Our pride rests on what distinguishes us: lineage, intelligence, achievement. The ayah goes beneath all of it. The most honoured prophet and the most forgotten person share the same origin and the same Creator's word. Nobody's dust is finer than anyone else's.

Then comes the word: kun, 'Be'. A classical commentator explains: He formed him as a body of clay, then 'Be' brought him into being as a human. Between the dust and the person there was nothing but Allah's command.

Does Allah need to remind us where we came from? He needs nothing (35:15). We need reminding. People who forget the dust start to imagine they made themselves.

The woman in the garden finished planting and sat back on her heels. The soil on her hands was not beneath her any more. It was where she had begun.

The full entry has 5 more reflections, questions to sit with, and "Live it today" - with the words, the roots and the tafsir alongside. Free, no account, works offline.