The seed that knew what to be

الْبَارِئُ

al-Bāriʾ · The Originator, who brings each creature into being

Here are three seeds. One is a sunflower seed, stripy and flat. One is a broad bean, big and smooth. One is an acorn, with a little hat on top.

If you plant them, what will they grow into?

You already know. The sunflower seed will never grow into an oak tree. The acorn will never grow into a bean plant. Each seed already holds a tiny plan of what it will become, curled up inside it, waiting.

Put a bean on wet kitchen roll in a jam jar and watch. After a few days, the skin splits open. A little white root pokes out and turns downwards, every time, even if you turn the jar upside down. Then a green shoot pushes up towards the light. Nobody tells it which way to go.

Now think about animals. A zebra has stripes, but no two zebras have the same stripes. A tiger’s stripes are all its own. Your fingerprints are all your own too. Not even twins have the same ones.

Every creature is its own self. Not a copy. Not a mistake. Just itself.

Muslims have a Name for God that is about this. It is al-Bāriʾ, the Originator. It means the One who brings each creature into being, separate and whole, each one exactly what it is. A bean, a bee, a baby: each one made to be itself.

People are very good at making things. We build houses and cars and robots. But we always make them out of something that was already there: bricks, metal, plastic. Nobody has ever made a seed out of nothing, with a plan for a whole tree tucked inside.

The Qur’an puts three Names together, one after another: “He is God, the Creator, the Originator, the Fashioner.” Three Names, like three steps: planning something, bringing it into being, and giving it its shape.

The Torah, the Jewish holy book, starts with creation. Its very first line says: “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.” Christians read the same words as the first line of their Bible. Jews, Christians and Muslims all believe God brought every living thing into being. That means everything from the tiniest seed to the tallest tree.

So plant your bean. Give it water and light. Watch it split, and root, and grow. It already knows what it is meant to be.

Watch together

▶Sir David Attenborough Gives a Lesson on Seeds | The Green Planet | BBC Earth · BBC Earth

Sir David Attenborough shows how seeds begin their lives.

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