33. And a sign for them is the dead land. We gave it life, and We brought forth from it grains, so that they eat thereof.
“Ayah” indicates a sign, something that signifies something else. A flag is sometimes called an ayah. An ayah means something that is meant to indicate something else. Ayah is translated as miracle because it makes you think about something else, ayah also means something to ponder over. The next 3 ayaat indicate the power of Allah and the resurrection of the dead. Allah argues that if you won‟t believe in Allah and history than look at the following 3 ayaat then.
We may not appreciate this having lived a city life and in North America, but through-out earth it is common to find desert-type land that is barren and basically dead that gets rain and it becomes fertile.
Yasir Qadhi: I have seen this during my time in Madinah myself many times where a land completely barren and you think how can this happen when the rain falls and the land becomes fertile!
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Allah argues that here is some land which you thought dead and could not cultivate, and Allah is the One who brings it back to life and then He cultivates it as well. Allah says that just like He resurrected this land indeed He can resurrect you as well.
3 miracles are evidences by Allah: the land and how it is revived, the night and the day and the sun and the moon.
34. And We have made therein gardens of date-palms and grapes, and We have caused springs of water to gush forth therein.
Grapes and dates are the two common prized fruits mentioned in the Qur'an and they are cherished in whatever society they are grown as they provide much nourishment.
“And we have caused water to gush forth from..” Allah says that the one who gave water is the same one that will resurrect you. If we reflect on the founding and thriving of major civilizations, the primary factor of a city being found is it‟s discovering of water. And Allah says that He provided this.
35. So that they may eat of the fruit thereof, and their hands made it not. Will they not, then, give thanks?
Allah mentions the land, fruits, seeds and water – basically all of agriculture – and then yes human beings do a little bit to get the product, but Allah mentions that the raw material of all this came from Allah Himself, without humans doing anything to deserve or obtain the material. And then Allah admonishes them, will you not be thankful?
The “MA” has two meanings:
1) their hands did not do it, We did it, so give Thanks, The meaning of this is that Allah does everything, so be thankful.
2) And that which their hands have done, shouldn‟t they give thanks. The meaning of which is that you planted, you irrigated and you protected from weeds but that Allah gave you the land, seeds, water, knowledge and power to farm it all.
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36. Glory be to Him, Who has created all the pairs of that which the earth produces, as well as of their own (human) kind (male and female), and of that which they know not.
A commentary on the words Alhumdulilah and SubhanAllah
Alhumdu is the complimentary opposite of Subhana. Alhumdu is to praise Allah for His perfection, Subhana means to glorify Allah for the imperfections that He does not possess. Alhumdu means affirming the positives, subhana meaning to negate the negatives.
As examples, when they ascribe to Allah a son, Allah responds with, “Subhanu” and so “Subhanu” is generally used for Allah in the mention and negation of Shirk (such as Christianity) and Idols.
So Glory is to Allah in what? In the pairs in plants, humans and that which we do not know. Botany has proved that even plants today have pairs. There is much mercy and benefit of us being created in genders as Allah has done. Allah here thus speaks of the miracle of creation and of life, that all of us are in pairs. The Arabs would fertilize and cross-pollinate the date palms and they knew this concept very well.
What about the amoeba and viruses that exist as singular organisms? The response is that when Allah says He has created everything in pairs this is a generality in the Qur'an i.e. this is how things are but yes exceptions do exist. So we don‟t be a literalist about this concept, 99% of the creation of Allah does exist in pairs and we do have 1-2 exceptions. There are ways in Arabic to emphasize complete generality without exception, Allah does not use these terms here! Some
examples of this seen in the Qur'an: 1) “Kula Shay” means the bulk of things but not 100% of things, 2) Negating and then affirming is a way of doing the 100% (examples of this include the shahadah when we say there is NO God but…)
37. And a sign for them is the night, We withdraw therefrom the day, and behold, they are in darkness.
This is a beautiful verse. Allah says that one of the signs that they should think about is how we peel away the day till they are left in darkness
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Yasir Qadhi: Today we have exaggerated on the scientific miracles of the Qur'an, and yes there is an element of truth to it. Qur'an scientifically is not about the details, rather the words used are very precise.
“Naslakh” is one such amazing word, but the irony is that it is not really associated with night and day.
Naslakh means peeling the skin or hide off of a dead animal, so it has nothing to do with night and day. But why so precisely used for the night and day than? The night is literally that we PEEL away the layers of the day one after the other. If you look at the sun setting, literally every 1 degree the sun goes down a peel goes away. The density or brightness of the light diminishes with each peel at a time, till finally there is darkness. This verb that Allah uses is very accurate, subhanAllah.
38. And the sun runs on its fixed course for a term (appointed). That is the Decree of the All-Mighty, the All-Knowing.
“Mustakar” can have two meanings,
1) Its final resting place as it means in classical Arabic and this is what the early scholars of Islam said;
that the sun goes and rests at a certain place, pauses, then returns
2) According to it‟s own schedule i.e. predetermined and planned, and with this we believe that indeed Allah has set an exact schedule to the Sun.
A hadith that indicates the first meaning might be true…
The Prophet (s) asked Abu Dharr al-Ghifari (as narrated in Sahih Muslim and Sahih Bokhari): Do you know where the sun sets? Abu Dharr replied: Allah and His messenger know best, the Prophet (s) responded: After the sun sets, it goes until it prostrates under the throne of Allah, than it asks permission to Allah to come back up, and this is the mustaqar of the shams and then the Prophet (s) quoted this ayah.
The Prophet (s) further said that the sun stays under the throne of Rahman every night?
And that it waits for permission to rise the next morning. One day Allah will tell the sun to not rise except from where it came, and this will bring about the chaos that is the Day of
Judgement.
Unfortunately this has led many people to reject Islam and the ahadith of the Prophet (s) . Non-Muslims have leveled accusations against Islam because of this as well, how could the sun possibly have a, “resting place” when science today has shown otherwise?. According to Ibn Taymiyyah this hadith is not problematic at all. We believe that the sun and the moon and every single creature and object is perpetually prostrating to Allah. The sun can prostrate in a manner that it does, like Allah says that everything in the creation praises Allah but you (humans) do not understand this praise. In the Qur'an Allah even says that your shadows even prostrate to Allah. Ibn Taymiyyah thus points out that the sujjood of the sun is relative to it not us humans.
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”Taqdeer” is from Qadr, Allah has apportioned it and He is Azeez Wal Aleem.
Here we learn and there is a clear reference to the sun that is MOVING. At the time the bulk of man believed that either the Earth or the Sun are stationary, yet the Qur'an references this in contrary to popular opinion at the time without there being any astronomical models available. Even Copernicus centuries later said that the sun is stationary, but no! Experts in astronomy understand this concept and they demonstrate that the sun is itself going in it‟s orbit hurdling through space. The earth tries to catch the sun as it goes that fast, and the moon is trying to catch the Earth, and Allah indicates this phenomenon to the Arabs and to us centuries before!
Who did all this? Only someone with POWER and KNOWLEDGE can do this, i.e Allah who is Azeez Wal Aleem.
39. And the moon, We have measured for it mansions (to traverse) till it returns like the old dried curved date stalk.
There are 28 manazil for the moon (manazim means stages), on the 29th night we look for it if we can even see it, and the moon also has apportioned resting places.
“Urjoon” is the stalk from which we pluck the dates from, once the date is plucked this fiber becomes useless, it becomes yellow and it shrivels up, becoming very frail and thin. Allah describes the moon as frail, thin, shriveled and yellow like the date stalk after the date has been plucked from it. And then it returns to it‟s other manazils as it becomes brighter and regular.
40. It is not for the sun to overtake the moon, nor does the night outstrip the day. They all float, each in an orbit.
“Falak” is an arch, a portion of the circle
Allah says that every one of these objects, the sun, the earth and the moon, are travelling in their own orbit, and there is extreme precision in their orbits. The sun for example has an extremely precise yet complex three-dimensional orbit that has only recently been charted. Furthermore, these objects are controlled with such precision and magnitude that we bring about our entire concept of time based on their orbits. How can this come about except for one who is Azeez al Aleem? Allah argues that this precision could not emanate except for a being so powerful that He can also bring the dead back to
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life. Elsewhere in the Qur'an Allah himself says the creation of the heavens and earth is a bigger sign than the creation of mankind, but that man does not reflect. . Modern science has only caught up with Qur'anic understanding until recently these mechanisms and orbits were discovered but even than we do not know or understand the how and the whys of these intricate orbits and movements.
The third sign…
41. And an Ayah(sign) for them is that We bore their offspring in the laden ship [of Nuh (Noah)].
“Fulk” means ship, “mushoon” means loaded with goods
There are two interpretations as to what this means?
1. The ship is a reference to Nuh, Allah is saying we carried their children i.e. the children of mankind left, and the ship was laden i.e. with the other animals, Noh is the “second Adam” – according to our tradition only the 3 sons of Noh remained. Allah is saying that that had we not preserved them humanity would not have survived.
2. We carried them i.e. the Quraysh and their children in laden ships with their goods (when they go to Ethiopia, Yemen, India etc)
42. And We have created for them of the like thereunto, so on them they ride.
Similar to the ships Allah has created what they ride i.e. Allah is saying thank ME for literally every mode of travel that you have!
Allah gifted the knowledge and know-how of constructing of the ship to Nuh, Jibreel was sent down to Nuh to facilitate this blessing. If Allah had not taught Nuh how to build a ship we would never have knowledge of travelling via the water, which is most of the Earth, could we have discovered new lands such as North America without ships? But “ride” in this ayah includes vehicles that are natural and artificial such as cars, trains and planes. Allah says I have allowed you to do this! And that we should be thankful for all our vehicles of transportation. Had Allah not willed we would never have discovered these things!
We also believe that Allah has taught us the sciences, many of them directly. As examples, Allah taught Adam how to speak, building ships to Prophet Nuh, writing with pens was taught to Prophet Idris, who
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was the first to ever write, Prophet Dawud was taught how to make iron malleable. Allah takes full credit for all this.
The Prophet (s) said: the very first person to write with the Qalam was Idris. If he was not taught this we would never have figured out how to transcribe these sounds and pass them down! And this civilization of ours of the sciences and arts would not exist without this knowledge and ability provided to us solely by Allah, what a blessing.
Yasir Qadhi: It is unfortunate that for us that we never think twice about ships or other modes of transportation as they are quite common, but just because we understand the dynamic should not take away from us appreciating the miracle. Here we are sitting on a chair in the sky! Hurling towards our destination at super fast speeds! How can we even possibly think about flying as we do?. A pebble dropped into the water will sink very fast, yet modern ships today can carry more than a small city in people and over 100,000 tons in weight. Allah has gifted us all this!
43. And if We will, We shall drown them, and there will be no shout (or helper) for them (to hear their cry for help) nor will they be saved.
Allah says that if we wanted to we could control and destroy your vehicles of transport, like a ship that sinks and a people that drown as a result.
“Sareekha” means one who answers the call of help, and “Sarakha” is to shout of help
The point of the verse is that Allah emphasizes, oh Mankind you are helpless infront of Allah and you need Allah to help you and if you don‟t have Allah‟s help than all of your blessings can be taken away instantaneously.
44. Unless it be a mercy from Us, and as an enjoyment for a while.
“Ila” in the context of this ayah means that they are not going to be destroyed except that we have given and blessed them with this mercy and “mata” means to enjoy, and this is but for a time being.
Allah has allowed us to enjoy these blessings as a direct mercy to us and a temporary pleasure.
BENEFITS FROM THIS SECTION
1. Here are the Prophets of Allah calling people to believe in Him, yet there are signs all around us that are so powerful you don‟t need Prophets! Allah mentions 3 signs that testify to His magnificence and that we must reflect upon these signs. These signs testify directly to the power of Allah, and indirectly that if He is so powerful He can definitely resurrect the dead
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2. We learn the blessings of being in pairs, e.g. the male and female, each having strength and weaknesses that the other is in compatibility with. An example is how Allah describes the night as being the absence of the day in the most precise of terms, “naslakhu” meaning the stripping of the day, literally.
3. The fact that the sun itself has been explicitly described as moving, the moon also as moving, and the moon having “manazil” or stages, and the sun has “mustaqar” or a schedule, and we as humans have synchronized our time to this to the precision of a milli-second, it is amazing when you think of the size of these objects, how large they are yet how precise they are! We know exactly when an eclipse happens! We know it all but really who put it to such precision down to a mill-second? Indeed this is Allah. The Shams, Qamar and Fulk are all also mentioned in Surah Rahman
4. Allah does describe some power that He has given us - yes we did do some work - but Allah is saying that you could not do it without what I have given you. The lesson we take is that we can do nothing without Allah‟s direct help. The true Khaaliq is the one who brings about without anything else, we can NOT be this! Whatever we invent, take we need a raw material that Allah has created for us.
5. Allah testifies that He has established the laws of nature as we understand them. Allah has explicitly told us that it is so because I have made it so! In the Qur'an Allah mentions things physically
impossible as evidence of his infinite power and ability, if I had wanted to I could have made the rain water salty. Anyone with grade 3 physics says this is not possible, yet if Allah had wanted to,
evaporation would take salt with it. Allah says I could have done so! But no, Allah created these laws for the benefit of humans.
Ayaat 45-47: The response of the Quraysh to the aforementioned miracles is that they