الْإِنسَانَ (Man): Refers to the human being in general and it also means the first person; Adam (pbuh).
All human sciences are subject to introductions that end with the self-evident fact embedded in the universe. We demonstrated this previously through the sequence of geometric theories. So, we find that their proofs are intuitive agreed by all people without any disagreement about them. When Allah (swt) taught man what he did not know, He (swt) left the facts about the originals of the universe as axioms, which requires the human mind only to pay attention to them. Therefore, we are commanded to reflect on the phenomena of the universe, forbidden to ignore the aspects:
{وَكَأَيِّن مِّنْ آيَةٍ فِي السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ يَمُرُّونَ عَلَيْهَا وَهُمْ عَنْهَا مُعْرِضُونَ }
(And how many a sign within the heavens and earth do they pass over while they, therefrom, are turning away) (Yusuf: 105)
If we contemplate each of the signs of Allah’s creation in the universe, we will conclude an idea and come to a theory.
This is very clear from the history of the inventions that humankind went through, such as, the theory of gravity, and its consequents that served humanity. This theory was the result of a simple observation from Newton, when he witnessed the fruit of an apple falling from its tree on the ground, Newton looked into this case, and tried to reach its causes, wondering, why it did not fall to the right or to the north or even it did not go up? Then he discovered the law of gravity, which became one of the most important scientific discoveries.
Therefore, the result of theories can be reached by simple observations which leads to the scientific truth at last. Allah (swt) says:
عَلَّمَ الْإِنسَانَ مَا لَمْ يَعْلَمْ
(Taught man that which he knew not (5))
Allah (swt) placed the embedded scientific facts in the universe and in the talents of the thinking mind.
The effector is the intellect and the affected is the substance, then the cosmic phenomenon through the creation of Allah (swt). If we think about the educated person, we find that his means of knowledge are those of perception that Allah (swt) has equipped him with. The first one is hearing because it is the most important means of perception in the matter of learning. Allah (swt) says:
{وَاللَّهُ أَخْرَجَكُم مِّن بُطُونِ أُمَّهَاتِكُمْ لَا تَعْلَمُونَ شَيْئًا وَجَعَلَ لَكُمُ السَّمْعَ وَالْأَبْصَارَ وَالْأَفْئِدَةَ ۙ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَشْكُرُونَ}
(And Allah has extracted you from the wombs of your mothers not knowing a thing, and He made for you hearing and vision and intellect that perhaps you would be grateful.) (An-Nahl: 78)
Allah (swt) put the hearing first.
So, Allah (swt) told us that a human being comes out of his mother’s womb know nothing but equipped with these senses which are the means of learning. Reflecting upon these three senses, we find that the Truth Allah (swt) mentioned them in the natural order according to their work in the body and their importance in perception. Hearing and sight to perceive objects and they are the first ones that a person uses in learning. Then moral and mental issues are the works of heart and mind, by them people reach the principles and beliefs that settle in themselves and do not accept discussion after that.
In other Surahs, we explained that the sense of hearing is the first active sense in the newborn since it works immediately after his birth, whereas, sight ability begins after three to ten days later.
Moreover, the sense of hearing is the sense that accompanies a person all the time; it is not subject to inactivity during sleep as the case with the sight sense. Additionally, it is the means of receiving the calls and it determines our manner of speech since our words are reflection to what we hear, therefore, whoever does not hear does not speak. So, Allah (swt) describes the disbelievers by:
{ صُمٌّ بُكْم}
(deaf, dumb) (Al-Baqara-171)
Considering the first human being; Adam (PBUH) received knowledge from Allah (swt) by hearing first. Allah (swt) says:
{ وَعَلَّمَ آدَمَ الْأَسْمَاءَ كُلَّهَا }
(And He taught Adam the names- all of them.) (Al-Baqara: 31)
When we serialize and follow the source of knowledge, we say: I knew that from my father, and my father knew it from his father and so on until we refer to Adam (PBUH), so who taught him? His Lord (swt) taught him. This meaning is reflected in our verse:
{عَلَّمَ الْإِنسَانَ مَا لَمْ يَعْلَمْ }
(Taught man that which he knew not (5))
The linguists classified the word into: a noun, a verb, and a letter. They defined them as follows:
The noun: a word has an independent meaning and time is not a part of it.
The verb: a word refers to an independent meaning, but time is part of it.
The letter: refers to a non-independent meaning.
Looking into these three classifications we find that the noun is the essence and it is the origin of indicating, whereas, the letter is a part of it. The verb in its origin is a noun for that we verify any verb by its noun. However, names are the first which we teach the child, we do not teach him verbs. Then comes the verbs and letters. So, learning is based on learning names, for example, a table, a tree….. because they include the idiomatic names in their meanings. So, Allah (swt) says:
{ وَعَلَّمَ آدَمَ الْأَسْمَاءَ كُلَّهَا }
(And He taught Adam the names- all of them.) (Al-Baqara: 31)
Taught him what he can say and understand. Therefore, when Allah (swt) says:
{ الرَّحْمَنُ % عَلَّمَ الْقُرْآنَ % خَلَقَ الْإِنْسَانَ % عَلَّمَهُ الْبَيَانَ }
(The Most Merciful % Taght the Qur’an % Created man, % (And) taught him eloquence.) (Al-Rahmaan: 1-4)
Eloquence is that lets man shows what is in himself and it is the linguistic expressions understandable by the speaker and the listener. Hence, the two persons must be aware of the meanings of the words to understand each other. For example, an Arabian does not know the English language, nor does he understand it. As well as the English does not know the Arabic language, so he does not understand what we say. Even with the same language itself we bring words that many Arab people do not understand.
After Adam (PBUH) has gotten the knowledge from his Lord (swt) and learned the names of all things by Allah’s will, then he taught them to his children.
{ قَالَ يَا آدَمُ أَنْبِئْهُمْ بِأَسْمَائِهِمْ }
( He said, “O Adam, inform them of their names.“) (Al-Baqara: 33)
That is the names of things. In the verse we find that “يَا” (O), is a letter used for calling. Adam (PBUH) is the called and (inform) is a command verb. As if, He (swt) has put for them the roles to be followed. This issue brought us out of a linguistic problem. That is some people claimed that since Allah (swt) had taught Adam (PBUH) all the names and Adam (PBUH) in return taught them to his children by conveying them with words, so, they heard him and pronounced them. Therefore, it was supposed to be one language, and that the words of the language should not increase of what Adam (pbuh) has learned, whereas, we find linguistic councils adopting new words and adding them to the language collection, as those related to recent discoveries and inventions.
We say, the presence of new words that were not present in the language is an evidence that the language is not Tawqifiyah (Allah (swt) put it), rather it is positioned by humans. which means people agree on it. For example, everyone agrees that this is a land and this is a sky, but this agreement needs an understanding of each other. However, this understanding needs a common language between us. Hence, this matter must end up to another power that taught us. So, we refer to:
{ وَعَلَّمَ آدَمَ الْأَسْمَاءَ كُلَّهَا }
(And He taught Adam the names- all of them.) (Al-Baqara: 31)
Allah (swt) created the man and provided him with senses and their belongings. That is, He (swt) provided the eye with the visuals, the ear with the audibles, the nose with the smells, the touch with the touchable, the taste with the flavors and the tongue with the verbal words. After that the human used these words that Allah (swt) has provided him in forming an understandable language and linguistic structures according to his renewed life.
So, we can say, that the language started first as Tawqifiyah and then ended to be Wad’yah (positioned by humans).