The Prostration
IN THE NAME OF GOD, THE MOST GRACIOUS, THE DISPENSER OF GRACE[32:9]
and then He forms him in accordance with what he is meant to be, and breathes into him of His spirit: and [thus, O men,] He endows you with hearing, and sight, and feelings as well as minds: [yet] how seldom are you grateful!

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* v.9 : As in 15:29 and 38:72, God’s “breathing of His spirit into man” is a metaphor for the divine gift of life and consciousness, or of a “soul” (which, as pointed out in sūrah 4, note 181, is one of the meanings of the term rūh). Consequently, “the soul of every human being is of the spirit of God” (Rāzī). Regarding the verb sawwāhu – rendered by me as “He forms him in accordance with what he is meant to be” – see note 1 on 87:2 and note 5 on 91:7.
* Lit., “hearts” (af’idah), which in classical Arabic is a metonym for both “feelings” and “minds”; hence my composite rendering of this term.