طين

Core meaning

Clay: the moist, workable matter from which the human being is drawn.

Uses

1. طِين → "clay" : the matter from which God creates the human being.

   • «هُوَ ٱلَّذِى خَلَقَكُم مِّن طِينٍۢ» — "It is He who created you from clay" (6:2)
   • «وَبَدَأَ خَلْقَ ٱلْإِنسَٰنِ مِن طِينٍۢ» — "and began the creation of the human being from clay" (32:7)

2. ٱلطِّين → "clay" : the matter one shapes or fires: the form of a bird, the belvedere, the stones.

   • «أَخْلُقُ لَكُم مِّنَ ٱلطِّينِ كَهَيْـَٔةِ ٱلطَّيْرِ» — "I create for you, from clay, the form of a bird" (3:49)
   • «فَأَوْقِدْ لِى يَٰهَٰمَٰنُ عَلَى ٱلطِّينِ» — "So kindle for me a fire upon clay, O Haman" (28:38)

Evidence from the text

The text names clay above all to state the origin of the human being (6:2, 23:12, 32:7, 37:11, 38:71). Iblis makes an argument of it: "You created me from fire, and You created him from clay" (7:12, 38:76). The text itself makes clay neither a nobility nor a baseness: it is the matter God shapes and into which He breathes of His Influx (38:71-72).

The same matter is shaped in the hands of Issa, who draws from it the form of a bird (3:49, 5:110); it is fired for the belvedere of Fir'awn (28:38); it becomes the stones poured down upon a severed people (51:33).

Distinctions

• ترب — earth, from which the human being is also drawn (40:67), whereas طين names that earth mixed with water and workable
• صلصل — dry, ringing clay, the state of the matter once dried

See also

خلق (to create)