Taha 20:55
A single sentence, three verbs: "khalaqnākum" (We created you) → "nuʿīdukum" (We return you) → "nukhrijukum" (We bring you forth).
۞ مِنْهَا خَلَقْنَـٰكُمْ وَفِيهَا نُعِيدُكُمْ وَمِنْهَا نُخْرِجُكُمْ تَارَةً أُخْرَىٰ
From it We created you, and into it We will return you, and from it We will bring you out another time
Taha 20:55 · Translation: talal-itani
Image
The object of all three is a single pronoun: **from it / into it / from it** — the earth. The human being's origin, return, and second emergence are all from the same material, the same place. "Tāratan ukhrā" (one more time) — not a cyclical return but a second exit. The verse gathers three distinct temporal layers (past, future, again) in a single place (the earth).
Observation
In biogeochemical terms, the elemental composition of the human body runs directly parallel to that of the earth: roughly 65% oxygen, 18% carbon, 10% hydrogen, 3% nitrogen, with calcium, phosphorus, potassium, sulfur, sodium, chlorine, magnesium, iron... all present in the earth's crust and oceans. Post-mortem decomposition returns the body's elements to the soil, the atmosphere, and the water cycle. The verse's description "minhā khalaqnākum, fīhā nuʿīdukum" (We created you from it, We return you to it) names this elemental cycle in the language of observation.
Exegesis
Al-Rāzī (Mafātīḥ al-Ghayb) suggests reading this verse together with 2:28 and 71:17-18 — all three describe a four-stage cycle of **earth → bodily life → earth → resurrection**. Al-Qurṭubī (al-Jāmiʿ li-Aḥkām al-Qurʾān) states that the tafsīr tradition is unanimous that "tāratan ukhrā" refers to the hereafter.
Sources
Tafsīr: al-Rāzī · Mafātīḥ al-Ghayb; al-Qurṭubī · al-Jāmiʿ li-Aḥkām al-Qurʾān; Science: biogeochemistry (parallel between elements of the human body and the earth's crust).