سورة الزمر

Imam Ali (peace be upon him): [In his debates with some of the zanadiqa (heretics), it is reported:] In the book of Allah the Mighty and Majestic, there are verses whose ta'wil (actual occurrence) is according to something other than their literal revelation, and whose ta'wil does not resemble the speech or actions of human beings. I will mention for you one example of such cases, and if Allah wills, you will suffice with it. That is the verse in which Allah has quoted from Ibrahim (peace be upon him), who said: "إِنِّی ذاهِبٌ إِلی رَبِّی [I am going to my Lord; He will guide me]" (Saffat/99). What is meant by "going towards Allah" is turning towards Him in worship and striving. Do you not see that its ta'wil (occurrence and reality) is other than its literal revelation?! And He said: "وَ أَنْزَلْنَا الْحَدِیدَ فِیهِ بَأْسٌ شَدِیدٌ [And We sent down iron, in which is great strength]" (Hadid/25), where what is meant by "sending down" is the very act of creating it.

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): Nuh (peace be upon him) built the ark over a period of one hundred years. Then Allah the Exalted commanded him to load onto the ark two pairs of each of the eight pairs of lawful-meat animals that Adam (peace be upon him) had brought out from Paradise, so that the sustenance of Nuh's (peace be upon him) descendants on earth would be provided from them, just as it had been provided for the descendants of Adam (peace be upon him); for the earth and all that was upon it — apart from what was with Nuh (peace be upon him) in the ark — would be drowned. So Nuh (peace be upon him) loaded onto the ark those eight pairs which Allah commanded. And Allah said: وَ أَنْزَلَ لَکُمْ مِنَ الْأَنْعامِ ثَمانِیَةَ أَزْواجٍ [And He has sent down for you eight pairs of the cattle].

Ali ibn Ibrahim (may Allah have mercy on him): یَخْلُقُکُمْ فِی بُطُونِ أُمَّهَاتِکُمْ خَلْقًا مِن بَعْدِ خَلْقٍ فِی ظُلُمَاتٍ ثَلَاثٍ [He creates you in the wombs of your mothers, creation after creation, in three darknesses] — the three darknesses are: the belly, the womb, and the mashimah (placenta). ذلِکُمُ اللهُ رَبُّکُمْ لَهُ المُلْکُ لا إِلهَ إِلَّا هُوَ فَأَنَّی تُصْرَفُونَ [That is Allah, your Lord; His is the kingdom; there is no god but He; how then are you turned away?].

Imam Baqir (peace be upon him): فِی ظُلُماتٍ ثَلاثٍ [in three darknesses] means the darkness of the belly, the womb and the placental sac, or the loins of the father, the womb of the mother, and the belly.

Imam Husayn (peace be upon him): [O Allah!] You began [my creation] with Your grace and blessing before I was anything worth mentioning; You created me from dust and settled me in the loins [of my forefathers], safe from the vicissitudes of death, and I continued through the ages past to journey from a loin to a womb. Out of Your compassion, kindness and goodness toward me, You did not bring me forth in the reign of the disbelievers who broke Your covenant and denied Your messengers; rather, out of Your compassion and tenderness toward me, You brought me forth in the era of guidance which You prepared for me. And before that too You were good to me and bestowed blessings upon me, and You created me from a drop of sperm poured out, and You placed me in three darknesses, between flesh, skin and blood.

Imam Ali (peace be upon him): Is not this [human being] the very drop of fluid whom Allah created in the darknesses of the wombs and the layered coverings [of the mother's belly], until he became a foetus, then a nursing infant, and [gradually grew until he] became a comely young man!!

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): O Mufaddal! We begin with [the discussion of] the creation of man, so take heed. The beginning of the arrangement of the creation of the child is in the womb فِی ظُلُماتٍ ثَلاثٍ [in three darknesses] — the belly, the womb and the placenta, where it has no means to seek sustenance, nor any means to ward off harm, nor to draw benefit, nor to repel injury.

Imam Kazim (peace be upon him): Abu Jarir al-Qummi said: I asked Imam Kazim (peace be upon him): "If the nutfa (sperm-drop) in the womb is aborted, how much diya (blood-money) is due, and if [it is aborted at later stages of development, that is,] while the fetus has become a clot of blood, or a chewed lump of flesh, or has become a formed creature settled in the womb, how much is its diya?" He said: "In his mother's belly he develops and is created in successive new forms; for forty days he is a nutfa, for forty days a clot of blood, for forty days a chewed lump of flesh. When it is a nutfa, its diya is forty dinars; the diya of the clot is sixty dinars; the diya of the chewed lump of flesh is eighty dinars; and when flesh grows upon the bones of the fetus, its diya is one hundred dinars. Allah has said: We produced it as another creation, so blessed be Allah, the best of creators. (al-Mu'minun/14) [And after the soul has been breathed into him,] if it is a male, it has the diya of a man, and if it is a female, the diya of a woman."

Imam Ali (peace be upon him): Amir al-Mu'minin (peace be upon him) was asked about matters that resemble creating; he said: They are of three kinds. One of them is the creation of something new, as Allah has said: He created the heavens and the earth in six days. (al-A'raf/53) Another kind of creation is transformation, as in this word of Allah who said: يَخْلُقُکُمْ فِی بُطُونِ أُمَّهاتِکُمْ خَلْقاً مِنْ بَعْدِ خَلْقٍ فِی ظُلُماتٍ ثَلاثٍ [He creates you in the wombs of your mothers, creation after creation, in three darknesses].