وَعَلَّمَ ءَادَمَ ٱلۡأَسۡمَاۤءَ كُلَّهَا ثُمَّ عَرَضَهُمۡ عَلَى ٱلۡمَلَـٰۤىِٕكَةِ فَقَالَ أَنۢبِـُٔونِی بِأَسۡمَاۤءِ هَـٰۤؤُلَاۤءِ إِن كُنتُمۡ صَـٰدِقِینَ
وقَوْلُهُ تَعالى: ﴿وعَلَّمَ آدَمَ الأسْماءَ كُلَّها ثُمَّ عَرَضَهم عَلى المَلائِكَةِ فَقالَ أنْبِئُونِي بِأسْماءِ هَؤُلاءِ إنْ كُنْتُمْ صادِقِينَ﴾ يَدُلُّ عَلى أنَّهُ عَلَّمَ الأسْماءَ كُلَّها لِآدَمَ، أعْنِي الأجْناسَ بِمَعانِيها لِعُمُومِ اللَّفْظِ في ذِكْرِ الأسْماءِ وقَوْلُهُ: ﴿ثُمَّ عَرَضَهم عَلى المَلائِكَةِ﴾ فِيهِ دَلالَةٌ عَلى أنَّهُ أرادَ أسْماءَ ذُرِّيَّتِهِ عَلى ما رُوِيَ عَنِ الرَّبِيعِ بْنِ أنَسٍ، إلّا أنَّهُ قَدْ رُوِيَ عَنِ ابْنِ عَبّاسٍ ومُجاهِدٍ أنَّهُ عَلَّمَهُ أسْماءَ جَمِيعِ الأشْياءِ وظاهِرُ اللَّفْظِ يُوجِبُ ذَلِكَ.
And His statement, the Exalted: {And He taught Adam the names - all of them. Then He presented them to the angels and said, “Inform Me of the names of these, if you are truthful.”} indicates that He taught all the names to Adam, I mean the genera with their meanings, due to the generality of the expression in the mention of the names. And His statement: {Then He presented them to the angels} contains an indication that He intended the names of his progeny, according to what was narrated from al-Rabi’ ibn Anas. Except that it has been narrated from Ibn ‘Abbas and Mujahid that He taught him the names of all things, and the apparent meaning of the wording necessitates that.
فَإنْ قِيلَ: لَمّا قالَ ﴿عَرَضَهُمْ﴾ دَلَّ عَلى أنَّهُ أسْماءُ مَن يَعْقِلُ؛ لِأنَّ " هم " إنَّما يُطْلَقُ فِيما يَعْقِلُ دُونَ ما لا يَعْقِلُ.
If it is said: When He said {presented them} (‘araḍahum), it indicates that it is the names of those who possess intellect; because “hum” is only used for that which possesses intellect, not for that which does not possess intellect.
قِيلَ لَهُ: لَمّا أرادَ ما يَعْقِلُ وما لا يَعْقِلُ جازَ تَغْلِيبُ اسْمِ ما يَعْقِلُ، كَقَوْلِهِ تَعالى: ﴿خَلَقَ كُلَّ دابَّةٍ مِن ماءٍ فَمِنهم مَن يَمْشِي عَلى بَطْنِهِ ومِنهم مَن يَمْشِي عَلى رِجْلَيْنِ ومِنهم مَن يَمْشِي عَلى أرْبَعٍ﴾ [النور: ٤٥] لَمّا دَخَلَ في الجُمْلَةِ مَن يَعْقِلُ أجْرى الجَمِيعَ مَجْرًى واحِدًا.
It is said to him: When He intended that which possesses intellect and that which does not possess intellect, it was permissible to give precedence to the designation of that which possesses intellect, like His statement, the Exalted: {Allah has created every living creature from water. And of them are those who move on their bellies, and of them are those who walk on two legs, and of them are those who walk on four} [An-Nur: 45]. When those who possess intellect were included in the group, He treated all of them in a single manner.
وهَذِهِ الآيَةُ تَدُلُّ عَلى أنَّ أُصُولَ اللُّغاتِ كُلِّها تَوْقِيفٌ مِنَ اللَّهِ تَعالى لِآدَمَ عَلَيْهِ السَّلامُ عَلَيْها عَلى اخْتِلافِها، وأنَّهُ عَلَّمَهُ إيّاها بِمَعانِيها إذْ لا فَضِيلَةَ في مَعْرِفَةِ الأسْماءِ دُونَ المَعانِي.
And this verse indicates that the origins of all languages are all a divine ordinance from Allah the Exalted to Adam, peace be upon him, concerning them in all their diversity, and that He taught them to him with their meanings, since there is no virtue in knowing the names without the meanings.
وهِيَ دَلالَةٌ عَلى شَرَفِ العِلْمِ وفَضِيلَتِهِ؛ لِأنَّهُ تَعالى لَمّا أرادَ إعْلامَ المَلائِكَةِ فَضِيلَةَ آدَمَ عَلَّمَهُ الأسْماءَ بِمَعانِيها حَتّى أخْبَرَ المَلائِكَةَ بِها ولَمْ تَكُنِ المَلائِكَةُ عَلِمَتْ مِنها ما عَلِمَهُ آدَمُ فاعْتَرَفَتْ لَهُ بِالفَضْلِ في ذَلِكَ ومِنَ النّاسِ مَن يَقُولُ إنَّ لُغَةَ آدَمَ ووَلَدِهِ كانَتْ واحِدَةً إلى زَمانِ الطُّوفانِ، فَلَمّا أغْرَقَ اللَّهُ تَعالى أهْلَ الأرْضِ وبَقِيَ مِن نَسْلِ نُوحٍ مَن بَقِيَ وتُوُفِّيَ نُوحٌ عَلَيْهِ السَّلامُ وتَوالَدُوا وكَثُرُوا، أرادُوا بِناءَ صَرْحٍ بِبابِلَ يَمْتَنِعُونَ بِهِ مِنَ الطُّوفانِ؛ أنْ كانَ بَلْبَلَ اللَّهُ ألْسِنَتَهم فَنَسِيَ كُلُّ فِرْقَةٍ مِنهُمُ اللِّسانَ الَّذِي كانَ عَلَيْهِ، وعَلَّمَها اللَّهُ الألْسِنَةَ الَّتِي تَوارَثَها بَعْدَ ذَلِكَ ذُرِّيَّتُهم عَنْهم، وتَفَرَّقُوا في البُلْدانِ وانْتَشَرُوا في الأرْضِ ومِنَ النّاسِ مَن يَأْبى ذَلِكَ ويَقُولُ: لا يَجُوزُ أنْ يَنْسى إنْسانٌ كامِلُ العَقْلِ جَمِيعَ لُغَتِهِ الَّتِي كانَ يَتَكَلَّمُ بِها بِالأمْسِ، وإنَّهم قَدْ كانُوا عارِفِينَ بِجَمِيعِ اللُّغاتِ إلى أنْ تَفَرَّقُوا، فاقْتَصَرَ كُلُّ أُمَّةٍ مِنهم عَلى اللِّسانِ الَّذِي هم عَلَيْهِ اليَوْمَ وتَرَكُوا سائِرَ الألْسِنَةِ الَّتِي كانُوا عَرَفُوها ولَمْ تَأْخُذْها عَنْهم أوْلادُهم ونَسْلُهم، فَلِذَلِكَ لَمْ يَعْرِفْ مِن نَشَأ بَعْدَهم سائِرَ اللُّغاتِ.
And it is an indication of the honor of knowledge and its virtue; because He, the Exalted, when He wanted to inform the angels of the virtue of Adam, taught him the names with their meanings so that he informed the angels of them, and the angels had not known of them what Adam knew, so they acknowledged his superiority in that. And among the people are those who say that the language of Adam and his children was one until the time of the Flood. Then when Allah the Exalted drowned the people of the earth and there remained of the offspring of Nuh those who remained, and Nuh, peace be upon him, died, and they procreated and multiplied, they wanted to build a tower in Babel by which they would protect themselves from the Flood; that Allah confused their tongues, so each group among them forgot the tongue which it was upon, and Allah taught them the tongues which their descendants inherited from them after that, and they dispersed in the lands and spread throughout the earth. And among the people are those who reject that and say: It is not possible that a person of sound mind forget his entire language which he was speaking yesterday, and that they had been knowledgeable of all the languages until they dispersed, so each nation among them restricted itself to the tongue which they are upon today and they abandoned the rest of the tongues which they had known, and their children and offspring did not take them from them, and for that reason, those who grew up after them did not know the rest of the languages.