The Virtue in Studying Surah al-Insan (man) There is a...

Has there not been over man a long period of Time when he was a thing not worth mentioning? 2. Surely We created man from a drop of mingled semen, in order to try him: so We gave him hearing and sight. 3. Surely We showed him the Way: whether he be grateful or ungrateful (is up to him). 4. We have prepared Chains, Yokes and a Blazing Fire for the Rejectors. We transformed the lowly mixture of sperm (and egg) into man, then We made all the faculties of guidance available to him.

Though most of the details in this Surah are about Resurrection and the Blessings of Heaven, there is, at the beginning of the Surah, some discussion on the creation of man. It becomes understood that if one takes note of the creation then one may be able to act cautiously in anticipation of the Resurrection. The question is asked, “Has there not been over man a long period of Time when he was a thing not worth mentioning?” The answer, undoubtedly, is in the affirmative.

For a long time the tiny essential particles of his being were scattered in different places. They could have been in the soil, among the tiny droplets of water in the seas, or in the atmosphere. In fact, each of these three environments was so vast that the particles were lost within them and were so small as not to be worthy of mention. Does the term 'man', in the first verse, refer to all the members of mankind or does it only refer to Adam?