39. Az-Zumar (The Throngs)
Mecca Period 59 [75 verses]
[[ Ruby’s note- The three layers of darkness the Quran is mentioning could be the uterine wall, the embryo sack, and the amniotic fluid. Further the embryo itself consists of three layers. See embryological developments. The three mentioned here cannot be stages because the stages are man made ideas of a process involving infinite number of continuous changes and developments. It cannot be truly broken into finite stages. The three must mean the layers of an embryo. And there are three layers according to the modern science.]]
The Quranic Text & Ali’s Version:
خَلَقَكُم
مِّن
نَّفْسٍ
وَاحِدَةٍ...
39:6. He created you (all) from a single person:
... ثُمَّ جَعَلَ مِنْهَا زَوْجَهَا...
then created, of like nature, his mate;
وَأَنزَلَ لَكُم مِّنْ الْأَنْعَامِ ثَمَانِيَةَ أَزْوَاجٍ...
and He sent down for you eight head of cattle in pairs:
C4250. See 6:143-4, where four kinds of cattle are mentioned in pairs in connection with certain Arab superstitions which are there condemned.
Here the, same four kinds are mentioned as representative of domesticated cattle given by Allah as useful to man. These are;
sheep,
goats,
camels, and
oxen,
In Arab idiom the horse is not included among "cattle".
For the wisdom and goodness of Allah in granting man dominion over cattle, see 36:71-73.
يَخْلُقُكُمْ فِي بُطُونِ أُمَّهَاتِكُمْ خَلْقًا مِن بَعْدِ خَلْقٍ فِي ظُلُمَاتٍ ثَلَاثٍ...
He makes you, in the wombs of your mothers, in stages, one after another,
C4251. See 22:5, where the gradual physical growth of man in several successive stages is mentioned as one of the Signs of Allah's creative Power and cherishing care.
in three veils of darkness.
C4252. The three veils of darkness which cover the unborn child are:
- the caul or membrane,
- the womb, and
- the hollow in which the womb is enclosed.
But we might understand "three" in a cumulative rather than a numerical sense.
... ذَلِكُمُ اللَّهُ رَبُّكُمْ لَهُ الْمُلْكُ...
Such is Allah, your Lord and Cherisher: to Him belongs (all) dominion.
... لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا هُوَ...
There is no god but He:
... فَأَنَّى تُصْرَفُونَ ﴿٦﴾
then how are ye turned away (from your true Center)?
C4253. It is clear that you owe your very existence and your maintenance, growth, and preservation, to Allah; How is it that you are turned away by chance things from Him? (R).
Asad’s Version:
39:6 He has created you [all] out of one living entity, and out of it fashioned its mate; 7 and he has bestowed upon you four kinds of cattle of either sex;" [and] He creates you in your mothers' wombs, one act of creation after another, in threefold depths of darkness.' Thus is God, your Sustainer: unto Him belongs all dominion: there is no deity save Him: how, then, can you lose sight of the truth? 10
Yuksel’s Version:
Triple Darkness
39:6 He created you from one person, then He made from it its mate. He sent down to you eight pairs of the livestock. He creates you in the wombs of your mothers, a creation after a creation in triple darkness. Such is God your Lord. To Him belongs the sovereignty. There is no god besides Him. How is it then you deviate?
[[Asad’s notes - 7 See 4:1 and the corresponding note 1.
8 Lit., "eight [in] pairs", i.e., the male and the female of four kinds of cattle (sheep, goats, camels and bovine cattle). For an explanation of my rendering, see note 130 on 6:143-144, where the same kinds of domesticated cattle are spoken of in connection with certain meaningless, superstitious taboos of pre-Islamic times, whereas here they are mentioned as "bestowed upon you" by God, and therefore lawful. Beyond this, the mention of cattle in this context is meant to remind man that it is God who provides his sustenance and that, therefore, man is utterly dependent on Him.
9 Lit., "by creation after creation, in three darknesses": an allusion to the successive stages of embryonic development, repeatedly spoken of in the Qur'an (cf 22 : 5 and 23:12-14), and to the darkness of the womb, the membrane enveloping the embryo, and its pre-natal blindness.
10 Lit., "how, then, are you turned away?" - i.e., from the truth.]]