Al-Qiyamah · Makki · ayah 39 of 40

Al-Qiyamah 75:39

فَجَعَلَ مِنْهُ ٱلزَّوْجَيْنِ ٱلذَّكَرَ وَٱلْأُنثَىٰٓ

“And made of him two mates, the male and the female.”

Saheeh International

Essence

From one small drop He made two, male and female, each the other's pair, and neither chose which it would be.

A reflection

One drop, and He chose

A couple spend months getting ready. They choose two names, paint the spare room, read every article. On the day, the midwife places in their arms a child whose face, sex and temperament nobody in the room chose.

The ayah says it in a few words. Fa-jaʿala minhu al-zawjayn: then He made of it the two kinds. The male and the female.

Notice who does the making. The drop does not decide. The parents do not decide. One water, and from it two kinds, and the choice between them belongs to Someone else. Another surah sets this inside His kingship. 'To Allah belongs the dominion of the heavens and the earth. He creates what He wills. He gives daughters to whom He wills, and sons to whom He wills' (42:49). That passage ends by calling Him All-Knowing, All-Able: qadīr. The very next ayah of our surah asks whether He is qādir, able to give life to the dead (75:40).

That is quietly humbling. Every one of us carries a body we were handed, not one we ordered. We did not pick our sex, our parents, our height or our voice. The ego likes to think of itself as a project it is managing. The ayah reminds it that the foundations were laid before it arrived.

Someone may object: why does Allah keep telling us what He can do? Does He want to be admired? He gains nothing from our admiration (35:15). The reason is given in the surah itself. A man has said that his scattered bones could never be rebuilt. The answer is not a boast. It is evidence, held up where everyone can see it. Every birth is the first creation happening again, in a room with a clock on the wall.

And there is gentleness in it too. The One who chose your making chose it knowingly. You are not a mistake in the order. You are what He meant.

The couple go home with a child they did not design. They love her more than anything they ever chose.

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.