مِن نُّطْفَةٍ خَلَقَهُۥ فَقَدَّرَهُۥ
Min nutfah; khalaqahu faqad-darah.
نطفے سے بنایا پھر اس کا اندازہ مقرر کیا
From a drop of fluid he created him and proportioned him,
The answer to the question just asked is deliberately unflattering, and the verb that follows the making holds two senses at once: to measure something out exactly, and to decree it. A body given its proportions and a life given its measure are one act in that word. The sequence runs on without a pause into dying and the grave, which is the reply to the ingratitude named two lines earlier.