Qur'anic Meanings as Symbolic Representations
It is essential to recall that the Qur’an is God’s speech in the sense that it is a verbal representation of God’s act of creating existence in time and space. The verses cited above beautifully illustrate this concept.
The reference to “clay” signifies creation in the stages of inanimate matter - solids, liquids, and gases - directly governed by God’s command.
The phrase “proportioned him” signifies creation in the stages of plants and animals, which, as mentioned, are guided by the ”will to live” in a semi-direct manner. The phrase “breathed into him of My spirit” signifies the creation of humans, guided by the ”will to be free”, in an indirect manner.
These concepts are further clarified in the following verses: “He who perfected everything which He created and began the creation of man from clay. Then He made his progeny from an insignificant fluid. Then He proportioned him and breathed into him of His spirit and made for you hearing, vision, and hearts; little are you grateful.” (32: 7-9)
This process of creation and existence spans immense epochs of time and space, representing a continuous evolution, one stage leading seamlessly into the next.
In the stages of plants and animals, governed by the will to live, God’s direction involves a semi-direct process of struggle - among living beings themselves and between these beings and their natural environment.
What Does the Will to Be Free Seek?
The will to be free seeks absolute freedom from all constraints. However, freedom comes with a price: the free being must bear the consequences of their actions. Without this accountability, freedom would devolve into chaos.
At its most basic level, absolute freedom involves the ability to think as one wishes, to say what one thinks, and to do as one says, provided that one’s freedom does not interfere with the freedom of others.
Before human beings appeared on the stage of life, existence was governed solely by the ”will to live”, whose [governing] law was pleasure - by any means. But with the advent of humans and the operation of the ”will to be free”, society emerged, along with values that led individuals to sacrifice immediate pleasures for anticipated ones or even to forgo physical pleasures for spiritual ones.
In other words, the legislation of permissible (halal) and prohibited (haram) - or, more precisely, the custom that forbids certain things and permits others - has come into play in pursuit of a specific goal.
