Al-Ḥijr 15:26

The issue

The verse states that Adam was created from “crackling clay of black mud wrought in form.” The salsāl (“crackling clay”) is the dry mud that, when baked, becomes clay. The hama’ al-masnūn (“black mud”) is the mud that turns black or the mud that ruts.

Many Islamic commentators state that Allah created Adam by forming him from mud and leaving him in the sun for forty years. Thus, Adam became “crackling clay” and Allah breathed into him a soul.

However, other Islamic commentators state that after Allah made Adam of mud into a human form, he dried. When the wind would blow by, a crackling sound was heard. Therefore, Allah called him “crackling clay”.

The statement that Adam was created from “crackling clay of black mud wrought in form” is repeated in verses 28 and 33. In a similar meaning, Q 55.14 states that Adam was created “of crackling clay like the potters,” without the “black mud wrought in form” description.

In another group of verses, the Qur’ān states that Adam was created out of ţīn (Pickthall trans. “clay” and “mire” in Q 32.7 and 38.71, respectively). Another verse, Q 37.11, explains the mire as “wet mud” (Khalifa trans.), known in Arabic as ţīnin lāzibin, which is sticky. Its description comes from the fact that it is dirt mixed with water.

The final specification concerning the creation of Adam in the Qur’ān is in Q 22.5, which states that he was made from turāb (“dust”), translated by Palmer as “earth.”

Thus, the creation of Adam is presented in three declarations in the Qur’ān: crackling clay, mire, and dust. To connect these elements together, the reader needs the assistance of Islamic commentators who state that Allah made humans “first from dust, then from mire, then from black mud, and then from crackling clay like the potters”.

The above explanation, given by al-Rāzī, to connect the information into one cohesive, consecutive unit leads to a theological problem: It suggests that man’s creation went through stages and contradicts the Qur’ān when it states that Allah “created him from earth, then He said to him BE, and he was” (Q 3.59). The command “BE” means immediate creation and is contrary to the long process explained by al-Rāzī.