Is there any wisdom behind God’s creating us from the soil? If God had wished, He would have created us from another material, what is special about soil?

Is there any wisdom behind God’s creating us from the soil? If God had wished, He would have created us from another material, what is special about soil?

Dear Brother / Sister,

Man had been created from soil. This is clearly stated in the following verses; “He created him from dust,” (Surah Aal-e-Imran, 3/59) “We created you out of dust.” (Surah al-Hajj,22/5) “And Allah did create you from dust.” (Surah Fatir,35/11)

According to this, our raw material is soil; so to speak,  all of us are “sons of the soil.”

The fact that man was created out of soil does not mean that he is a piece of soil. Allah filtered the soil, blew life into it and decorated it with feelings.

There are many reasons why man was created out of soil; there are also lessons to be taken from it. We will mention some of them below:

- Though soil is darker and denser than water, air and light, it is superior to the other elements in terms of all aspects. That man, who was created out of soil, has a position superior to all creatures points to this fact. "The moment that a servant is closest to his Lord is when he is in prostration."(Munawi, Faydu'l-Qadîr, 2/68) The hadith points to this issue. It shows man the way of being real man.

- Though the soil seems to be under our feet, it is the source of our life and existence. What it raises are in the hearts and they are shown respect. The soil is always modest. From this point of view, it advises man to be modest, humble and charitable.

- The soil receives beauty, mercy, life, color and decoration from Allah. The soil is a veil of Allah’s unlimited mercy; nothing that enters it remains at large. From this point of view, it can be said that the soil gives the following good news to a person that dies and is buried in the soil:
A different form of all of the visible material jewels and decorations, the weaving looms of beauty, mercy and life are under and behind the veil of the soil.   

We always like and want to go under the soil, to take refuge in the soil, which is a protective mother of us, to watch the genuine, permanent and spiritual flowers.

Death is not non-existence. It is the gate to a better realm. A seed that is under the ground seemingly dies, decays and disappears. In fact, it passes on to a better life on the ground. From the seed life, it is promoted to the tree life.

Similarly, a man who dies seemingly goes under the ground and decays. In fact, he has a better life in the realm of barzakh and grave. 

- The earth is the heart of the universe and the soil is the heart of the earth. The most appropriate place for the reflection of the lordship, teaching and ruling of Allah, the application and activities of Allah’s power, the center of vicegerency and the manifestations of the names of Allah, who is always living and who controls everything, is the soil. For instance, in the mirror of the air, a weak light of the sun is seen. The sun’s light is visible in the mirror of water but its colors are not seen there.  However, the mirror of the soil shows all of the colors in the sunlight through the colors of the flowers. 

Then, it is necessary not to be afraid of the soil and being transformed into soil, the grave and lying in the grave.(see Nursi, Mesnevi, Şule)

- Man has the properties of the soil since he was created out of soil. The soil sometimes dries, becomes scorched and desperately needs water. It shows patience with the troubles of the winter for a season. It resurrects thanks to the productive spring rains. It shows the embroideries of the divine power through thousands of beauty, colors, scents and harmony. 

Man has a destiny similar to man. He is shaken like the sand storms in the desert in the eddy of the worldly desires. He destroys himself under the hegemony of his soul. He becomes perfect only if he overcomes the barrier of his soul. He becomes an altruist by attaining the manifestations of abundance and mercy as the soil springs to life through spring rains. Thus, he gives away the bounties that come to him in the beauty and abundance of spring for the sake of Allah like productive soils in the form of good deeds, charities and abundance.

- The ephemeral body of man is fed through the soil since it was created out of soil and it disappears in the soil. That is, it turns to its origin. All of the elements in the soil are present in the body of man in certain proportions. The body of man is also a different appearance of the soil.  As a matter of fact, according to a narration, Adam (pbuh) was named Adam because he was created out of the soil.  (see Ibn Sa’d, Tabaqat, I, 26)

- People have different colors because the soil, out of which man was created, has various colors like red, black and white. The soil has hard and soft parts; similarly, people have different abilities.

To sum up, it is very nice to always listen to the following verse and lead a life accordingly: “From the (earth) did We create you, and into it shall We return you, and from it shall We bring you out once again!”(Taha, 55)

May our Lord make us one of the slaves that could return to Him as cleanly and as purely as He created us from the soil that is clean and has the property of cleaning.

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