وَإِذْ أَخَذَ رَبُّكَ مِنۢ بَنِىٓ ءَادَمَ مِن ظُهُورِهِمْ ذُرِّيَّتَهُمْ وَأَشْهَدَهُمْ عَلَىٰٓ أَنفُسِهِمْ أَلَسْتُ بِرَبِّكُمْ ۖ قَالُوا۟ بَلَىٰ ۛ شَهِدْنَآ ۛ أَن تَقُولُوا۟ يَوْمَ ٱلْقِيَٰمَةِ إِنَّا كُنَّا عَنْ هَٰذَا غَٰفِلِينَ
Wa iz akhaza Rabbuka mim Baneee Aadama min zuhoorihim zurriyyatahum wa ash hadahum 'alaa anfusihim alastu bi Rabbikum qaaloo balaa shahidnaaa; an taqooloo Yawmal Qiyaamati innaa kunnaa 'an haazaa ghaafileen
And [mention] when your Lord took from the children of Adam - from their loins - their descendants and made them testify of themselves, [saying to them], "Am I not your Lord?" They said, "Yes, we have testified." [This] - lest you should say on the day of Resurrection, "Indeed, we were of this unaware."
Themes in this ayah
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7:172Ayah 1206
19 ayahs in Al-A'raaf are strongly about the oneness of Allah. This is one of them.
← Previous on Oneness of Allah7:158Say, [O Muhammad], "O mankind, indeed I am the Messenger of Allah to you all, [from Him] to whom belongs the dominion of the heavens and the earth.Next on Oneness of Allah →7:190But when He gives them a good [child], they ascribe partners to Him concerning that which He has given them.
Tafsir
Scholars largely agree on this ayah
And remember when your Lord took from the Children of Adam from their loins min zuhūrihim is an inclusive substitution for the preceding clause min banī Ādama ‘from the Children of Adam’ with the same preposition min ‘from’ their seed by bringing forth one from the loins of the other all from the loins of Adam offspring after offspring in the way that they multiply looking like small ants at the valley of Na‘mān on the Day of ‘Arafa because of their multitude. God set up proofs of His Lordship for them and endowed them with the faculty of reason and made them testify against themselves saying ‘Am I not your Lord?’ They said ‘Yea indeed You are our Lord we testify’ to this and this taking of testimony is lest they should say in both instances read third person yaqūlū ‘they say’ or second person taqūlū ‘you say’ on the Day of Resurrection ‘Truly of this Oneness of God we were unaware’ not knowing it!
Related Hadiths
that 'Umar bin Al-Khattab was asked about this Ayah: And when your Lord brought forth from the Children of Adam, from their loins, their seed and made them testify as to themselves: "Am I not your Lord?" They said: "Yes! We testify," lest you should say on the Day of Resurrection: 'Verily, we have been unaware of this (7:172).'" So 'Umar bin Al-Khattab said: "I heard the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) being asked about it. So the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: 'Indeed Allah created Adam, then He wiped his back with His Right Hand, and his offspring came out of him. So he said: "I created these for Paradise, and they will do the deeds of the people of Paradise." Then He wiped his back, and his offspring came out of him. So He said: "I created these for the Fire, and they will do the deeds of the people of the Fire." A man said: 'Then of what good is doing deeds O Messenger of Allah!' The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: 'Verily, when Allah created a man for Paradise, He makes him perform the deeds of the people of Paradise, until he dies doing one of the deeds of the people of Paradise. So Allah will admit him into Paradise. And when He created a man for the Fire, He makes him perform the deeds of the people of the Fire until he dies doing the deeds of the people of the Fire. So Allah will enter him into the Fire.'"
In our opinion it means that covenant which Allah had taken in the loins of their fathers when He said : “Am I not your Lord? They said: Yes.
that the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: "When Allah created Adam He wiped his back and every person that He created among his offspring until the Day of Resurrection fell out of his back. He placed a ray of light between the eyes of every person. Then He showed them to Adam and he said: 'O Lord! Who are these people?' He said: 'These are your offspring.' He saw one of them whose ray between his eyes amazed him, so he said: 'O Lord! Who is this?' He said: 'This is a man from the latter nations of your offspring called Dawud.' He said: 'Lord! How long did You make his lifespan?' He said: 'Sixty years.' He said: 'O Lord! Add forty years from my life to his.' So at the end of Adam's life, the Angel of death of came to him, and he said: 'Do I not have forty years remaining?' He said: 'Did you not give them to your son Dawud?'" He said: "Adam denied, so his offspring denied, and Adam forgot and his offspring forgot, and Adam sinned, so his offspring sinned."
Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) said, "The believers will be assembled on the Day of Resurrection and they will say,
'Let us look for someone to intercede for us with our Lord so that He may relieve us from this place of
ours.' So they will go to Adam and say, 'You are Adam, the father of mankind, and Allah created you
with His Own Hands and ordered the Angels to prostrate before you, and He taught you the names of
all things; so please intercede for us with our Lord so that He may relieve us.' Adam will say, to them,
'I am not fit for that,' and then he will mention to them his mistake which he has committed.' "
"They said: 'O Messenger of Allah (ﷺ)! When was the Prophethood established for you?' He said: 'While Adam was between (being) soul and body.'"
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