The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family): In the Tafsir of Imam Askari (peace be upon him) it is narrated: Concerning the saying of Allah the Exalted: یا أَیُّهَا النَّاسُ اعْبُدُوا رَبَّکُمُ الَّذِی خَلَقَکُمْ مِنْ نُطْفَةٍ مِنْ ماءٍ مَهِینٍ فَجَعَلَهُ فِی قَرارٍ مَکِینٍ إِلی قَدَرٍ مَعْلُومٍ [O people, worship your Lord who created you from a drop of contemptible water, then placed it in a secure resting-place until an appointed term], and We measured it, and how excellent is the Measurer, the Lord of the worlds. The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) said: "The nutfa (sperm-drop) remains in the womb for forty days, then it becomes an 'alaqa (clot) for forty days, then a mudgha (lump of flesh) for another forty days, and then it turns into bone, and after that flesh grows upon it. Then Allah clothes it with skin, and after that hair sprouts upon it. Then He sends the Angel of the Wombs, and it is said to him: 'Write down his lifespan, his deeds, his sustenance, and whether he will be wretched or blessed.' The angel says: 'From where am I to know these things?' It is said to him: 'Take dictation of it from the readers of the Preserved Tablet,' and so he takes it in dictation from them."