ثُمَّ ٱسْتَوَىٰٓ إِلَى ٱلسَّمَآءِ وَهِىَ دُخَانٌ فَقَالَ لَهَا وَلِلْأَرْضِ ٱئْتِيَا طَوْعًا أَوْ كَرْهًا قَالَتَآ أَتَيْنَا طَآئِعِينَ
Summas tawaaa ilas-samaaa'i wa hiya dukhaanun faqaala lahaa wa lil ardi'tiyaaa taw'an aw karhan qaalataaa atainaa taaa'i'een
Then He turned to the sky, which was smoke––He said to it and the earth, ‘Come into being, willingly or not,’ and they said, ‘We come willingly’––
Then he turned to the sky while it was smoke, and said to it and to the earth, "Come, willingly or unwillingly." They said, "We come willingly."
Taʾiʿin ends in the sound masculine plural, the form Arabic keeps for beings that can be addressed and can answer, so sky and earth reply in the grammar of persons. Two options are put and only one is taken up. Commentators divided over dukhan: some read literal vapour, others took it as a name for matter not yet given form.