Human Weakness

Out of all primate babies, the human baby is the most defenseless. This is due to how underdeveloped human infants are in comparison. By one estimation a human fetus would have to undergo a gestation period of 18 to 21 months instead of the usual nine to be born at a neurological and cognitive development stage to match that of a newborn chimpanzee. 

Additionally, non-human primates can also regulate their own body temperature and have a grasp reflex that can support their own body weight, neither of which a human infant is capable of achieving.

The Quran discusses this fact in the following verse about the physical development of a human:

[30:54] GOD is the One who created you weak, then granted you after the weakness strength, then substituted after the strength weakness and gray hair. He creates whatever He wills. He is the Omniscient, the Omnipotent.

اللَّهُ الَّذِي خَلَقَكُمْ مِنْ ضَعْفٍ ثُمَّ جَعَلَ مِنْ بَعْدِ ضَعْفٍ قُوَّةً ثُمَّ جَعَلَ مِنْ بَعْدِ قُوَّةٍ ضَعْفًا وَشَيْبَةً يَخْلُقُ مَا يَشَاءُ وَهُوَ الْعَلِيمُ الْقَدِيرُ

But there is another dimension of weakness that human beings suffer from that is not from God, but from ourselves. This weakness is encompassed in the following verse:

[4:28] GOD wishes to lighten your burden, for the human being is created weak.

يُرِيدُ اللَّهُ أَنْ يُخَفِّفَ عَنْكُمْ وَخُلِقَ الْإِنْسَانُ ضَعِيفًا

Upon first glance, it may appear that God is the one who created the human being weak, but we realize this is not the case by taking a look at the Arabic.

As we see the first expression is in reference to God, when it states:

GOD wishes to lighten your burden,

يُرِيدُ يُرِيدُ اللَّهُ أَنْ يُخَفِّفَ عَنْكُمْ

But the second statement is not in reference to God, but to the human being himself.

…for the human being is created weak.

وَخُلِقَ الْإِنْسَانُ ضَعِيفًا

So what did the human being do that weakened his creation?

When we made a decision to question God’s absolute authority prior to our arrival here on Earth, this impacted our creation. When we did this we tarnished our soul with sin. So when we came to this world we all came bearing sin.

This becomes more apparent when we consider that the previous statement in the verse informs us that God wants to redeem us by lightening our burden, the sin by which we carry when we are born. But it is our stubbornness and arrogance that we chose that limits our ability to have God lighten our burden. Therefore, it is our decision that is causing our weakness and not God.

[33:72] We have offered the responsibility (freedom of choice) to the heavens and the earth, and the mountains, but they refused to bear it, and were afraid of it. But the human being accepted it; he was transgressing, ignorant.

This is the reason we are informed that God created us in the best design, then we turned into the lowliest of the lowly when we failed to heed God’s warning an opted into carrying this responsibility.

[95:4] We created man in the best design. [95:5] Then turned him into the lowliest of the lowly.

As stated in the previous article, this design is in reference to our spiritual design and not our physical design.