Tafseer of The Beneficent · Ar-Rahmaan · 55:14
He created man from clay like [that of] pottery.
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.
His word: خَلَقَ الإنْسَانَ مِنْ صَلْصَالٍ كَالْفَخَّارِ ("He created man from sounding clay like pottery"). The Exalted, whose praise is mentioned, says: Allah created man — and that is Adam — from ṣalṣāl, and that is dry, unbaked clay. Because of its dryness it has a ringing sound (ṣalṣala) when it is moved and tapped, like pottery. That is to say: because of its dryness it is, although it has not been baked, like that which has been fired with fire; it sounds as pottery sounds. And pottery (al-fakhkhār) is that which is made of clay fired with fire.
In accordance with what we have said about this, the scholars of interpretation (ahl al-taʾwīl) have spoken.
* Mention of who said that:
ʿUbayd Allāh ibn Yūsuf al-Jubayrī related to me, saying: Muḥammad ibn Kathīr related to us, saying: Muslim — that is, al-Mulāʾī — related to us, on the authority of Mujāhid, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His word: مِنْ صَلْصَالٍ كَالْفَخَّارِ ("from sounding clay like pottery"), he said: It is of the clay which, when the sky brings rain and the earth becomes dry, is like thin shards of pottery.
Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: ʿUthmān ibn Saʿīd related to us, saying: Bishr ibn ʿUmāra related to us, on the authority of Abū Rawq, on the authority of al-Ḍaḥḥāk, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, he said: Allah created Adam from sticky clay (ṭīn lāzib), and the sticky (al-lāzib) is the adhesive, good [clay], after the stinking, formed mire (ḥamaʾ masnūn muntin).
He said: And it was formed mire after the dust. He said: Then He created Adam from it with His hand. He said: He remained lying for forty nights as a cast-down body, and Iblīs came to him and struck him with his foot, so that it rang and made a sound. He said: That is the word of Allah, the Exalted: كَالْفَخَّارِ ("like pottery"). He says: like the hollow thing that is not solid.
Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Saʿīd and ʿAbd al-Raḥmān related to us, both saying: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of al-Aʿmash, on the authority of Muslim al-Baṭīn, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, he said: Al-ṣalṣāl is the pulverized dust.
ʿAlī related to me, saying: Abū Ṣāliḥ related to us, saying: Muʿāwiya related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, he said: Al-ṣalṣāl is the pulverized dust.
ʿAlī related to me, saying: Abū Ṣāliḥ related to us, saying: Muʿāwiya related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His word: خَلَقَ الإنْسَانَ مِنْ صَلْصَالٍ كَالْفَخَّارِ ("He created man from sounding clay like pottery"), he says: the dry clay.
Hannād related to us, saying: Abū al-Aḥwaṣ related to us, on the authority of Simāk, on the authority of ʿIkrima, concerning His word: مِنْ صَلْصَالٍ كَالْفَخَّارِ ("from sounding clay like pottery"), he said: Al-ṣalṣāl is clay mixed with sand, so that it became like pottery.
Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, saying: ʿĪsā related to us; and al-Ḥārith related to me, saying: al-Ḥasan related to us, saying: Waraqāʾ related to us — both — on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning His word: مِنْ صَلْصَالٍ كَالْفَخَّارِ ("from sounding clay like pottery"): and al-ṣalṣāl is the dry dust that lets a ringing sound (ṣalṣala) be heard, so that it is like pottery, as Allah, mighty and exalted is He, has said.
Ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His word: مِنْ صَلْصَالٍ كَالْفَخَّارِ ("from sounding clay like pottery"), he said: from clay that had a ringing sound and was dry, and then He created man from it.
Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning His word: مِنْ صَلْصَالٍ كَالْفَخَّارِ ("from sounding clay like pottery"), he said: Adam dried out in the clay in the Garden, until he became like ṣalṣāl, and that is the pottery. And the formed mire (al-ḥamaʾ al-masnūn) is that which is stinking in odor.
Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Marwān related to us, saying: Abū al-ʿAwwām related to us, on the authority of Qatāda: خَلَقَ الإنْسَانَ مِنْ صَلْصَالٍ كَالْفَخَّارِ ("He created man from sounding clay like pottery"), he said: from dry dust that had a ringing sound.
He said: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, saying: Shabīb related to us, on the authority of ʿIkrima, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: خَلَقَ الإنْسَانَ مِنْ صَلْصَالٍ كَالْفَخَّارِ ("He created man from sounding clay like pottery"), he said: that which was squeezed out and came forth between the fingers. And if one were to direct the word ṣalṣāl toward the meaning that it is a form faʿlāl, derived from their expression ṣalla al-laḥm — when the meat stinks and its odor changes — just as one has formed ṣarṣar from ṣarra al-bāb ("the door creaked"), and kabkaba from kabba, then that would be a valid interpretation and approach.
