Al-Hijr
IN THE NAME OF GOD, THE MOST GRACIOUS, THE DISPENSER OF GRACE[15:29]
and when I have formed him fully and breathed into him of My spirit, fall down before him in prostration!"

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* v.29 : Cf. 2:30-34 and the corresponding notes, as well as 7:11-18. The allegorical character of all the passages bearing on the creation of man and on God’s command to the angels to prostrate themselves before him is brought out clearly in God’s saying, “I am about to create mortal man...; and when I have formed him fully...,” etc.: for it is obvious that, in reality, no lapse of time is required for God’s completing His creation – since, “when He wills a thing to be, He but says unto it, ‘Be’ – and it is” (cf. 2:117, 3:47 and 59, 6:73, 16:40, 19:35, 36:82 and 40:68). God’s “breathing of His spirit” into man is obviously a metaphor for His endowing him with life and consciousness: that is, with a soul.