Not much to say about this really. It's just like I said alongside the first Prayer for the Day, I just picked a piece of the Qur'an that I liked and then talked about it. 

When the Qur'an was first revealed, it was integral to the daily lives of the Prophet's community. So specific events of the day were faced with the guidance of Revelation. That miraculous immediacy can never be again. But scripture is for all time, a source of inspiration and understanding, which will sometimes leap right off the page into the readers heart. The date and place may be different, but the issues are the same.

From the chapter called The Believers vv. 12-20 & 78-80

We created man of an extraction of clay. Then set him, a drop, in a receptacle secure. Then We created of the drop a clot, of the clot a tissue, then of the tissue bones. Then We garmented the bones in flesh, and then produced him as another creature. So blessed be God, the fairest of creators!

Then you shall die, then be raised up on the Day of Resurrection. And We created above you seven ways. We are never unmindful of creation.

We sent down from heaven water in measure and lodged it in the earth; and We can take it from you. We produced for you gardens of palms and vines wherein are fruits you eat, and a tree from Mount Sinai bearing oil and food for all.

It is He who produced for you hearing, eyes and hearts; little thanks you show; He who scattered you in the earth, and to Whom you shall be gathered; Who gives life, and makes to die; and to Whom belongs the alternation of the night and day. Will you not understand?

Friends came round to visit yesterday, bringing their new born baby. Premature, she is tiny, yet beautifully perfectly formed. It never fails to amaze, how distinctly individual personalities manifest from the earliest days of infancy. And she looks just like her father did when he was a little boy, so I have to think that she also looks like her grandfather. It's the combination that's so disconcerting. More of the same - yet different.

She's still rather soft boned and fragile, a reminder of her creation, like the rest of us, children of Adam & Eve, made of clay. Earth and water, though unlike the potter's clay, we are more water than earth. But mix them together in the right proportions and like clay on a wheel, our material is perfect for shaping into a vessel for the soul.

We begin as water, and a few dissolved chemicals, and with no apparent tangible help end up as miniature human beings. Saying it is all done through DNA and genetics is just not enough to make it seem any less miraculous to me. The water of our lives first congeals into a clot, edging gently from liquid into solid. The very first verses of Qur'an to be sent down speak of God creating us from a clot. The first thing we need is to stick together.

From the congealing comes a lump of tissue, already dividing into cells used for quite distinct and different purposes. Together, we need the variety of our individual talents and contributions. Shared knowledge, shared effort, and shared resources are needed if we are to make the whole more than the sum of the parts. The bone's distinct purpose is to give strength and rigidity, like law in a society; a framework to hang your life on.

For the bone is clothed in flesh, not the other way around. Unlike the crustaceans, the way we are made has softness on the outside. Our vulnerable bodies seem unequipped to face the rigours of life, but strength clothed in gentleness, the unyielding clothed in the giving, were made that way because they were the best equipment for the purpose, and be sure that the Maker has left his mark on us, just as the potter leaves his fingerprints in wet clay.

In the Name of the One who is All-merciful and All- compassionate. O God! Help us to hear your words with all the freshness and power with which we heard them the first time. Let us see the world with all the wonder of unfamiliarity and innocence, and let our hearts be filled to overflowing with the love and affection that surrounds us. Amen