And He it is who has created man from water and established for him bonds of lineage and marriage. All-powerful is your Lord.
Yet people worship, instead of God, things that can neither benefit nor harm them. An unbeliever always gives support against his Lord.
We have sent you only as a herald of good news and a warner. (The Standard, Al-Furqan: 25: 54-56)
The surah mentioned earlier rain, sea and river water. It then mentions a different type of fluid, which is semen that gives rise to human life. It is from this particular fluid that a fetus takes form and becomes a male child related to its ancestors by lineage, or a female one that embodies the marriage relationship.
The human life that comes into existence through this fluid is far greater and more wonderful than life caused by rain. Just one cell, out of a countless number comprised in one drop of man’s semen, fertilizes the woman’s egg to initiate the formation of the greatly sophisticated creature, man, the most remarkable of all living creatures.
It is from practically identical sperms and female eggs that boys and girls come into existence, in a remarkable process that human knowledge has not yet fathomed. None of the many thousands of sperms shows any clear signs that makes it able to produce a male or a female. Similarly, no female egg shows such signs. Nevertheless, one eventually produces a man, while another produces a woman. “All powerful is your Lord.” This amazing phenomenon shows just one aspect of His power.
If we were to look minutely into this fluid, we would be overawed as we look for the complete human characteristics in exceedingly minute components that carry the hereditary aspects of the human race, as also the parents and their immediate families, which are then transferred to the fetus, male or female, in accordance with God’s will. Here we quote from the chapter on genes in A.C. Morrison’s Man Does Not Stand Alone:
“In every cell, male and female, are chromosomes and genes. Chromosomes form the darkened nucleus which contains the genes. The genes are the main deciding factor as to what every living thing or a human being shall be. The cytoplasm is the extraordinary chemical combinations which surround them both. The genes are so infinitesimal that if all of them which are responsible for all the human beings on earth today, with their individuality, psychology, color, and race, could be collected and put in one place, there would be less than a thimbleful. These ultra-microscopic genes are the absolute keys to all human, animal, and vegetable characteristics. A thimble is a small place in which to put all the individual characteristics of two billions of human beings. However, the facts are beyond question... The embryo recapitulating in its progressive development from protoplasm to racial identity indicates recorded history retained and expressed by atomic arrangement in the genes and cytoplasm...
“We have found that genes are recognized to be submicroscopic arrangements of the atoms in the sex cells of all things that have life. They hold the design, ancestral record and characteristics of each living thing. They control in detail root, trunk, leaf, flower and fruit of every plant as exactly as they determine the shape, scales, hair, wings of every animal, including man.”
Such a glimpse into the marvels of life is sufficient as a pointer to the great hand of the wise Creator. “All powerful is your Lord.”
In this atmosphere of careful planning of creation, and in the light of life that is produced by rain water and human sperm, given all characteristics that makes one cell a complete human male with all his individual and hereditary characteristics, while another is a complete human female, to worship anyone other than God sounds exceedingly incompatible with nature, singular and absurd. Hence, the surah refers to the unbelievers’ worship and puts it in perspective: “Yet people worship, instead of God, things that can neither benefit nor harm them. An unbeliever always gives support against his Lord.”
Every unbeliever, including those who opposed Islam in Makkah, joins the fight against their Lord who has created him and given him his shape and form. How can it be when he is so insignificant to stand in opposition to God? In fact an unbeliever opposes God’s faith and the code of living He has laid down for human life. But the surah wants to show the enormity of his offense, describing him as an opponent to God, his Lord and Master.
When a human being stands in opposition to God’s Messenger and his message, he is actually fighting against God. The Prophet need not worry about him, because his opponent is God, who will certainly ensure that he cannot do the Prophet any harm.
God then reassures His Messenger, lightening his burden. He assures him that once he has discharged his duty, delivering his message, with what it brings to people of good news and warnings, striving hard against the unbelievers through the Qur’an, then the stubborn rejection by the unbelievers should not trouble him. God will take over the fight against those who oppose him. All he need to do is to place his trust in God and leave matters up to Him. “We have sent you only as a herald of good news and a warner.”
