“And indeed, your Lord will gather them all together. He is All-Wise, All-Knowing. And We certainly created man from dried clay, from black mud altered.” (25–26)

Regarding His saying, “And indeed, your Lord will gather them all together. He is All-Wise, All-Knowing”: He will gather them according to what He knows of them.

It was also said: He will cause all of them to die, then gather them—the first and the last.

Abu Salih Ahmad ibn ‘Abd al-Malik al-Mu’adhdhin informed us; Abu Sa‘id al-Sayrafi informed us; Abu al-‘Abbas al-Asamm narrated to us; Ahmad ibn ‘Abd al-Jabbar narrated to us; Abu Mu‘awiyah narrated to us, from al-A‘mash, from Abu Sufyan, from Jabir, may Allah be pleased with him, who said: The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said: “Whoever dies upon something, Allah will resurrect him upon it.” (1)

His saying, “And We certainly created man,” means Adam, peace be upon him. He was called man because he is manifest and visible to the eye. It was also said that the term derives from forgetfulness, because a covenant was taken from him, yet he forgot.

“From dried clay”: this is dry clay which, when tapped, produces a ringing sound. Ibn ‘Abbas said: It is unmixed clay from which the water has receded and which has cracked; when moved, it rattles.

Mujahid said: It is fetid clay. Al-Kisa’i preferred this view and said that it derives from the expression applied to meat when it becomes putrid. (2) “From black mud”: hama’ is black clay. “Altered” means changed. Mujahid and Qatadah said: It is fetid, altered mud.