نشء

Core meaning

To bring into existence what was not: an act the text ascribes to God, marking the passage to constituted being.

Uses

1. أَنشَأَ, يُنشِئُ → "bring into being" : to bring into existence: generations, gardens, clouds, the human being.

   • «وَأَنشَأْنَا مِنۢ بَعْدِهِمْ قَرْنًا ءَاخَرِينَ» — "and We brought into being, after them, another generation" (6:6)
   • «ثُمَّ أَنشَأْنَٰهُ خَلْقًا ءَاخَرَ» — "then We brought it into being as another creation" (23:14)
   • «وَيُنشِئُ ٱلسَّحَابَ ٱلثِّقَالَ» — "who brings into being the heavy clouds" (13:12)

2. إِنشَآء → "coming-into-being" : the verbal noun, which doubles the verb.

   • «إِنَّآ أَنشَأْنَٰهُنَّ إِنشَآءًۭ» — "We brought them into being in a coming-into-being" (56:35)

3. ٱلنَّشْأَة → "genesis" : the coming into being, on the scale of all existence: first, other, ultimate.

   • «وَلَقَدْ عَلِمْتُمُ ٱلنَّشْأَةَ ٱلْأُولَىٰ» — "And you have already known the first genesis" (56:62)
   • «ثُمَّ ٱللَّهُ يُنشِئُ ٱلنَّشْأَةَ ٱلْءَاخِرَةَ» — "then God will bring into being the ultimate genesis" (29:20)

4. يُنَشَّؤُا۟ → "brought up" : the intensive passive: to be made to grow.

   • «أَوَمَن يُنَشَّؤُا۟ فِى ٱلْحِلْيَةِ» — "Is it then one who is brought up amid ornaments" (43:18)

5. ٱلْمُنشَـَٔات → "built up" : the participle: the vessels raised upon the sea.

   • «وَلَهُ ٱلْجَوَارِ ٱلْمُنشَـَٔاتُ فِى ٱلْبَحْرِ» — "And to Him belong the vessels built up at sea" (55:24)

Evidence from the text

In the active, the verb has God as subject: successive generations (6:6, 23:31, 23:42), the human being drawn from a single Self (6:98), gardens (6:141), clouds (13:12). When the text puts the question to man, it is to turn it back on him: "Is it you who brought its tree into being, or are We the One who brings it into being?" (56:72)

23:14 marks the threshold: the drop, the clinging form, the lump and the bones are designated by خلق, then comes "then We brought it into being as another creation" (23:14). نشء says the coming of the completed being, not the shaping of its stages.

The noun ٱلنَّشْأَة carries the same gesture on the scale of all existence: the first genesis (56:62), the other genesis that rests upon God (53:47), the ultimate genesis (29:20). The passive يُنَشَّأُ (43:18) and the participle ٱلْمُنشَـَٔات (55:24) apply the word to what is made to grow or is raised up.

Distinctions

• خلق — خلق shapes, stage after stage; نشء brings the constituted being into existence.