Thinketh man that he shall be left supreme?

Was he not a mere embryo?6

Then he became thick blood of which God formed him and fashioned him;

And made him twain, male and female.

Is not He powerful enough to quicken the dead?


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1 Lit. shall be united. In the loss of light, or in the rising in the west.-
Beidh.

2 Supply, it shall not be accepted.

3 Verses 16-19 are parenthetic, and either an address to Muhammad by Gabriel
desiring him (I) not to be overcome by any fear of being unable to follow and
retain the revelation of this particular Sura; (2) or, not to interrupt him,
but to await the completion of the entire revelation before he should proceed
to its public recital. In either case we are led to the conclusion that, from
the first, Muhammad had formed the plan of promulging a written book. Comp.
Sura xx. 112.

4 In the death-struggle.

5 Or, Therefore woe to thee, woe! And, again, woe to thee, woe. Thus Sale,