Tafseer of Mary · Maryam · 19:67
Does man not remember that We created him before, while he was nothing?
Important: The Arabic source text is always authoritative. This translation is a study aid and has not been verified by scholars — do not use it as a basis for religious proof or for deriving rulings (ahkam). When in doubt, always consult the Arabic text and a qualified scholar.
Allah the Exalted says: أَوَلا يَذْكُرُ الإنْسَانُ (Does man not consider) — the man who marvels and who denies Allah's power to bring him to life after his decay and to make him exist after his non-existence — (does he not consider), in the creation of his own self, that Allah created him before his death and brought him forth as a complete human being (bashar) out of nothing? وَلَمْ يَكُ (and he was not), before his creation, شَيْئًا (anything). Let him then take a lesson from this and know that He Who brought him forth out of nothing, it is not beyond His power to bring him to life after his death and to make him exist after his decay.
The Qurʾān reciters differed concerning the reading of His word أَوَلا يَذْكُرُ الإنْسَانُ . Some reciters of Medina and Kūfa read: أَوَلا يَذْكُرُ (with a light dhāl), while the majority of the reciters of Kūfa, Basra, and the Ḥijāz read أَوَلا يَذَّكَّرُ (with doubling of the dhāl and the kāf), in the meaning of: does he not consider (yatadhakkaru)? The doubling appeals to me more, even though the other reading is permissible, for the meaning is: does he not reflect upon this and take a lesson from it?
