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According to the noble Qur'an:

96:2

خَلَقَ الْإِنسَانَ مِنْ عَلَقٍ

Created man from a clot of blood.

6:2

{ هو الذي خلقكم من طين } بخلق أبيكم آدم منه { ثم قضى أجلا } لكم تموتون عند انتهائه { وأجلٌ مسمّىّ } مضروب { عنده } لبعثكم { ثم أنتم } أيها الكفار { تمترون } تشكون في البعث بعد علمكم أنه ابتدأ خلقكم ومن قدر على الإبتداء فهو على الإعادة أقدر .

It is He who created you from clay and then decreed a term and a specified time [known] to Him; then [still] you are in dispute.

25:54

{ وهو الذي خلق من الماء بشرا } من المني إنسانا { فجعله نسبا } ذا نسب { وصهرا } ذا صهر بأن يتزوج ذكرا كان أو أنثي طلبا للتناسل { وكان ربُّك قديرا } قادرا على ما يشاء .

And it is He who has created from water a human being and made him [a relative by] lineage and marriage. And ever is your Lord competent [concerning creation].

So did man come from blood, clay, or water?

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  • Why can't it be all three? You can create juice from water, then create popsicles from juice, and say you created popsicles out of water. Similarly, both clay and blood imply that there was a lot of water involved. – Muz Sep 07 '12 at 02:58
  • the answer this question says clod of blood is wrong. It should be clinging substance – muslim1 Sep 07 '12 at 03:01
  • there are also other verses regarding creation of human. – Battle of Karbala Sep 07 '12 at 10:03
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    This is a good example of why a translation of a copy of the quran should not be read literally. To understand the quran properly, you need to do a 7 year classical arabic cource under the supervision of an appropriately qualified teacher who will also explain the time periods for each section of the quran using tafseer and hadith. But to answer your question, each of those points refer to different periods in time. – oshirowanen Sep 07 '12 at 12:03
  • isn't clay water and dirt? there is another missing ayah that you didn't include after adam was shaped from clay, Allah breathed a soul into him, and after that him and his wife had children, and from the egg and the sperm, a human is created into a clinging substance, not literally it just looks like one – NesreenA Sep 07 '12 at 12:39
  • see also: http://islam.stackexchange.com/questions/2312/difficulty-in-the-first-revelation-of-quran-is-man-created-from-a-clot-of-blood – NesreenA Sep 07 '12 at 18:17
  • "Clay" and "suspended thing" are also mentioned in the creation of humanity.

    Dust, earth, clay,and mud are terms for the creation of mankind. They refer to the physical matter as opposed to angels' light or jinns' fire.

    Clinging substance and water can apply easily to sperm, which would seem to be applicable to the birth of the average human being. Suspended thing could refer to a variety of things, but an embryo seems most likely.

     – cartomancer Aug 20 '13 at 23:58

5 Answers5

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According to wikipedia the definition of clay is as follows:

Clay is a general term including many combinations of one or more clay minerals with traces of metal oxides and organic matter.1 Geologic clay deposits are mostly composed of phyllosilicate minerals containing variable amounts of water trapped in the mineral structure.

So clay is dirt and water combined it would make sense that Allah included both in the quran.

Also the parts that you quoted are also all very relevant, and interconected in another surah:

“And verily We did create man from a quintessence (of clay). Then We placed him (as a drop of sperm) in a place of rest, firmly fixed. Then We made the sperm into a clot of congealed blood.* Then of that clot We made a (foetus) lump. Then We made out of that lump bones and clothed the bones with flesh. We developed out of it another creature (by breathing life into it). So blessed be Allah, the most marvellous Creator” (Sura al-Mu’minun 12-14).

so from these verses we can conclude that the order goes as follows:

  1. Adam was made from clay
  2. Humans were placed as sperm in a resting place (in adam)
  3. the sperm was formed into a clot of blood*
  4. humans were formed into a lump, then into flesh
  5. Then the humans were given a soul

So all of the verses and processes of creation you listed above all come together into one method, that allah creates us by.

*clot of blood is translated into many different things, including "chewed substance" and "clinging substance" see what stage it's reffering to

NesreenA
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(This is my personal view.)

Different ayah refers to different stages of creation. For example, when building a house, these would be valid;

  • I have built this house from a blueprint.
  • I have built this house from ground up.
  • I have built this house from bricks.

Although I don't know for sure, I think creation from clay is for creation of humanity (or you can say first human.) Clot of blood is for creation in a mother's womb. And creation from water points to creation from sperm.

  • I like it. It's still a bit confusing though. –  Sep 07 '12 at 01:57
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    Note that the word translated as "create" is خلق and it also means to make, originate, shape, form, mold etc. Don't think it in terms of making something appear out of nowhere. –  Sep 07 '12 at 02:03
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If I give you a perfect cup of coffee , which of the following statements would be false?

1) The cup of coffee is made from water

2) The cup of coffee is made from coffee powder

3) The cup of coffee is made from sugar

Listing ingredients does't make them contradictory.

islam101
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    This is a side note, but this is similar to the way that Christianity explains the trinity. –  Sep 07 '12 at 13:02
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    @DanAndrews I have heard similar things too, but one thing we must remember is that we mix things because the individual ingredients are deficient in properties. For example, we mix sugar since our coffee is deficient in sweetness or we mix cream as coffee lacks creamy texture . I would never apply this to God because God is perfect and is not deficient in anything. – islam101 Sep 08 '12 at 01:07
  • agreed, Allah is. –  Sep 08 '12 at 01:10
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Deep down, every human being knows there is more than flesh and bones and you have something else; a soul that makes you tick like a clock. Without of which you would be like any other animal on earth. You have noticed when Allah created humans from water, clay, clot of blood that these items were abundant on earth but the soul was given to us as a gift from all mighty Allah(God). It also is a fact that from when human beings came into existence 1000s of years ago there is no fossils before that period of existence of any human beings, meaning that we did not evolved from any other that we just came to be.

banging
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Imran
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    "Deep down ever human been knows" - no, that is a false claim. I'll stand up and happily say "I'm just a primate descendant, flesh and bones (and other meat etc); no 'soul'". Re "it all so is a fact"... no; for example, there's these 60k year bones. However, the thing you need to understand about fossilization is that it is *incredibly rare; the conditions required make fossils of anything* patchy and uncommon. There are, however, good records of a wide range of intermediate pre-human hominid forms. – Marc Gravell Feb 11 '13 at 09:28
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Earth, as we know composed of mixture of many elements. Mud is a kind of wet earth rich in minerals. There are sodium compound, magnesium, copper etc. If we think about it, that's what we are made of - most of our body is made of water, then some of it made of metal and non - metal elements and compounds which can be found in dust /soil /Earth. That's the creation of Adam as. While the descendents, we the normal humans are made from a single cell, namely the sperm.

So to answer your question - yes we are made of both earth and Water at the same time.

user4173
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