So coming to the question of conception, unfortunately it’s a misconception, not conception. The fact is that that incident which has been mentioned in that verse which you have quoted now, that is not applicable to the human birth at all or any birth at all. It is applicable to the phenomena of prophethood and nothing else. So it says, it’s talking of Adam as first resurgent of Allah on earth, the first man among men who was revealed by Allah and given an office. And after Allah had spoken to him with that Wahi-e-Maamuriyat as we call it, or commissioning, after that commissioning, Allah wanted everyone to obey him, not before.
So that is the import of that verse. Now Allah is referring to men already in existence. Or men, when we sometimes call men, by that we mean the entire species of men. So here man is used in that sense as a representative of species of men. So Allah says that when I have brought to perfection the species of men and I have completed him and raised him to a status where he is worthy of receiving Allah’s revelation, even then by himself he has no right to be obeyed by others. He is just one of the life. And why should people begin to obey him? The only time when he will deserve your obedience would be Iza sabwaitu wal nafakhtu feehi mirroohi when I have breathed into him, that is, I have revealed to him. I have spoken the word of revelation to him. And that can be expressed in three ways.
Sometimes heart is mentioned, but by that we mean the seat of consciousness. And sometimes we call it mind. And the same is the meaning. And sometimes we call breathing to somebody, which means to speak to somebody with authority. And breathing also carries the sense of life-enforcing phenomena. Not only just a word, but which infuses something with life. So this is why all these three phrases have been used in translation of the same words. They are not different from each other. Only expressions are different. And the meaning is simply this, that when man has reached the stage of physical completion and perfection, still he is not deputizing me. He will only be worthy of obedience when I have spoken to him and commissioned him for myself. And he claims to be a prophet. Then you must bow before him, because it’s my order. That shows you must not obey except to Allah. And only those who represent Allah. And in that much to others as Allah tells you to obey.
Because the authority of obedience springs from Allah. He is the proprietor, he is the owner of the universe. That is the philosophy of that verse, which has been translated in simple words, because in translation you can’t give commentary. So this is why you couldn’t understand the import of this verse. Now this does not stand in contradiction to what you have said about the life of a child. There is no moment when he is breathing a life from outside. Nor is he ever mentioned as such in the Holy Quran. I hope the confusion is removed. Thank you.
