al-Bāriʾ

The Originator who brings creatures into being, distinct and free of flaw

Begin the series ↓

Recited as it sounds in the Qur'an, 59:24.

Heard together with: al-Khāliq / al-Bāriʾ / al-Muṣawwir

Start with what we know

Then take away everything it needs. What is left is not a bigger version of us. It is the Name.

Episode 1

In us

Parents bring a child into being, but only by passing on what they were given: about three billion letters of DNA, copied, not written.

Episode 2

In nature

New species arise, slowly, from existing ones. Nature makes the new out of the old.

Episode 3

At our best

Physicists have made the heaviest elements, a few atoms at a time, by smashing existing nuclei together. They vanish in fractions of a second.

Episode 4

The Break

Take away the parent, the raw material, the earlier form. al-Bāriʾ is not a better copier, but the One who brings into being what was not, each creature distinct and whole (Qur'an 59:24).

Read: Q 59:24 (al-Bāriʾ); 2:54 (Bāriʾikum)

From the tradition: al-Ghazālī: al-Bāriʾ is the One who originates and brings into existence (mukhtariʿ, mūjid) what was determined; in his building analogy, the builder who follows the architect. Jewish blessing formula 'Borei pri…' uses the same root

On screen

The Reality Stone warps what already exists. al-Bāriʾ is why there is anything to warp.

Where it shows up

In scripture: Q 59:24; 2:54; 57:22. Genesis 1:1
The same thread in Jewish and Christian scripture: Strong. Genesis 1:1 bara; 'When God began to create (bara) heaven and earth'; 'Borei' blessings
In the universe: NASA/ESA/CSA Webb 'Pillars of Creation': newly formed stars in the Eagle Nebula, 6,500 light-years away (science.nasa.gov)
In nature: 'DNA replication 3D' (yourgenome, Wellcome)
In people: A scribe and a calligrapher writing bara and bāriʾ
In science: Astronomy: stars form from collapsing gas clouds (Pillars); chemistry: elements heavier than iron made in rare stellar events