The Reality of the Human Being

The pronoun in “He created him” in this verse refers to Adam’s body. The reality of the human being lies in their spirit; however, sometimes the connection of the spirit to the body leads to the word “human” or “person” being applied to the body. The human being has a body in all stages - worldly life, intermediate realm (barzakh), and resurrection - which serves as an instrument for the spirit, not as part of the human essence. Therefore, the Qur’an only uses the word “taking” (tawaffī) for the spirit, not for the body. For example, in response to those who thought death meant being lost in the earth and annihilation, and who said: “When we have been lost in the earth, shall we be indeed created anew?”,(597) it was said: “Say, ‘You will be taken away by the angel of death, who has been charged with you. Then you will be brought back to your Lord’.”(598) This means you will be taken by the angels, while regarding the body it says: “From it did We create you, into it shall We return you, and from it shall We bring you forth another time.”(599) We created you from dust and will return you to dust and will bring you forth from it again; meaning, it speaks of bringing forth from the earth and returning to it, not of “taking” (tawaffī). Yes, in “From it We created you”, the human being is addressed in terms of having a body, not specifically their spirit, since the spirit is not from the realm of dust.

In the verse under discussion, there is evidence that specifically the body is meant, not Adam’s entire reality, because if the pronoun in “to him” does not refer specifically to the body, it would be redundant, as the meaning would be that God created the true human and then said to him “be.” Thus, it does not mean that He created Adam and then said to him “be” and he came to be, rather “He created him from dust” means “He created his body from dust.”

Note: The phrase “He created him from dust” cannot be an attribute of “Adam” because “Adam” is definite. Therefore, this phrase appears to be an answer to this implicit question: How was Adam (a.s.) created? The answer is that God created his body from dust; then He said to him: “be,” and he was.