Verses 20–26
This section of verses mentions a number of signs of God’s oneness (waḥdāniyya) in lordship (rubūbiyya) and divinity (ulūhiyya). It highlights the perfect balance, harmony and governance of the Creation and thereby demonstrates only God is worthy of true lordship, in the sense of sovereignty over and governance of Creation, and divinity, in the sense of being the object of worship. In the same way, it also shows as false the claim of the idolaters that God is the sole creator but that governance and worship have been delegated to the deities of the idols so that these may be intercessors for them with God, who is only the Lord of lords and the God of gods.
Commentary
وَمِنْ آيَاتِهِ أَنْ خَلَقَكُمْ مِنْ تُرَابٍ ثُمَّ إِذَا أَنْتُمْ بَشَرٌ تَنْتَشِرُونَ ٢٠
(30:20) And of His signs is that He created you from dust, then, behold, you are humans scattering!
When God says that He created human beings from dust, He means that the human form will eventually return to the earth, as all the stages of human existence in this world are made from the elements of the earth and they will return to these elements in the end.
…then, behold, you are humans scattering! Behold (idhā) is to express surprise (fujāʾiyya) that you are humans scattering over the earth. In other words: what is created from inanimate matter is expected to be inanimate like the matter it is made from, so it should surprise you that it becomes a living, feeling, thinking human being that moves of the earth only to end up destroying life! Therefore, the phrase …then, behold, you are humans scattering! has the same meaning as the verse: Then We produced him as another creature! ()
The creation of the human being, meaning the gathering and combination of his components from the earth, and then making this collection of matter into a living, feeling, thinking human being, is one of the signs of the existence of a wise and living Creator who directs the amazing natural order of the universe.
With this in mind, it becomes clear that the word then (thumma) in the verse is to signify a gap and the order of events. The sentence beginning with it is connected to the sentence He created you from dust… rather than Of His signs is that He created you…
وَمِنْ آيَاتِهِ أَنْ خَلَقَ لَكُمْ مِنْ أَنْفُسِكُمْ أَزْوَاجًا لِتَسْكُنُوا إِلَيْهَا وَجَعَلَ بَيْنَكُمْ مَوَدَّةً وَرَحْمَةً ۚ إِنَّ فِي ذَٰلِكَ لَآيَاتٍ لِقَوْمٍ يَتَفَكَّرُونَ ٢١
(30:21) And of His signs is that He created for you mates from your own selves that you may take comfort in them, and He ordained affection and mercy between you. There are indeed signs in that for a people who reflect.
Al-Rāghib says:
“Mate” (zawj) is used to refer to both male and female partners of all sexual animals. God says: …and made of him the two sexes [zawjayn], the male and the female (). And He says: …dwell with your mate [zawj] in paradise (). Zawja (with the feminine tāʾ) is a colloquialism whose plural is zawjāt… the plural of zawj is azwāj.
Therefore And of His signs is that He created for you mates from your own selves that you may take comfort in them means He created partners for you—or for your benefit—from your own species; in other words, both the man and woman are able to produce offspring in partnership with the other. By themselves, each of them is incomplete and in need of the other but, together, they form a single complete unit that can make a child. It is because of this incompleteness that each of them moves towards the other and it is only when they meet that they find peace. After all, whatever is incomplete yearns to be whole and whatever is needy yearns to be fulfilled. This is the instinct implanted in each gender.
…and He ordained affection and mercy between you: It is as though affection (mawadda) refers to the visible effects of love in practice, so the relation of affection to love is like the relation of humility (khuḍūʿ) to awe (khushūʿ), which is a psychological state brought about by being in the presence of greatness. Meanwhile, mercy (raḥma) is the psychological state brought about by witnessing someone who is deprived of completeness and their need to alleviate their deficiency; this motivates a merciful person to save them from their deprivation and fulfil their needs.
One of the clearest exemplars of this affection and mercy is the family unit, for the two partners are bound to one another through love and affection; both of them (and especially the wife) show kindness and mercy to their small children because they see that these children are unable to look after their own needs; so they do what is necessary to protect, nurture, shelter and educate them. Were it not for this mercy, the human race would cease to exist!
This affection and mercy can also be seen in society as a whole between the different members of society; members are affectionate to another and show mercy to those who are poor, infirm or weak and unable to look after themselves.
Based on the context of the verse, it appears that the first kind of affection and mercy is what intended. If, however, we take the verse on its own, then the latter meaning would be implied.
There are indeed signs in that for a people who reflect: Because when they think about the cosmic principles which are at work in the existence of two sexes, which leads to the formation of households, the affection and mercy which fosters the appearance of societies, and the net result of this which is the continuation of the human species, and the fulfilment of individual human beings in their worldly and next-worldly lives, they have truly come upon wondrous signs that amaze their intellects and dazzle their minds.
وَمِنْ آيَاتِهِ خَلْقُ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ وَاخْتِلَافُ أَلْسِنَتِكُمْ وَأَلْوَانِكُمْ ۚ إِنَّ فِي ذَٰلِكَ لَآيَاتٍ لِلْعَالِمِينَ ٢٢
(30:22) Among His signs is the creation of the heavens and the earth, and the difference of your tongues and colors. There are indeed signs in that for those who know.
It appears that the difference of your tongues refers to the difference between the languages you speak, and …colors refers to different racial groups, such as white, black, yellow and red.
According to what scholars have said, the difference of your tongues could also suggest differences in accents, tone and manner of speaking, and colors to mean differences between all individual human beings; how each human being has his or her own unique shade of skin tone.
Those who study the macrocosm discover in the natural order such fine signs that the artifice and power they bear witness to could not be from other than God nor return to any except Him.
وَمِنْ آيَاتِهِ مَنَامُكُمْ بِاللَّيْلِ وَالنَّهَارِ وَابْتِغَاؤُكُمْ مِنْ فَضْلِهِ ۚ إِنَّ فِي ذَٰلِكَ لَآيَاتٍ لِقَوْمٍ يَسْمَعُونَ ٢٣
(30:23) And of His signs is your sleep by night and day, and your pursuit of His grace. There are indeed signs in that for a people who listen.
“Grace” (faḍl) means something in excess of what is needed; it can be used in the sense of a gift because a person only gives a gift from whatever he has that is in excess of his needs. In this verse, the meaning is “sustenance” (rizq); pursuing His grace means seeking your sustenance.
In human nature there is a force that drives him to seek sustenance and meet his daily needs for survival through effort and toil. This same force then leads him to stop and rest to remove the tiredness of his striving and renew his vigor. The succession of days and nights that are set aside for effort and rest respectively, and the fact that these only exist on the earth by virtue of the movement of celestial bodies in the heavens are signs that will benefit one who listens attentively, reflects on what he hears and follows it if he finds it to be true.
Al-Zamakhsharī says in his al-Kashshāf:
The verse contains a kind of envelopment. It begins by mentioning that amongst His signs is your sleep and your pursuit of His grace by night and day. However, He has separated the first pair of complimentary opposites with the latter pair, because the latter are times and time is identical with its contents. Therefore, by enveloping the times with the activities that take place in them, He is showing the two to be one and the same. It is also possible that He could mean your sleep during both times and your seeking His grace in both. However, the more apparent of the two meanings is the first because it is often repeated in the Qur’an and it is one of the most relevant ideas that the Qur’an calls attention to.
From this we can easily grasp why God ends this verse with the coda: There are indeed signs in that for a people who listen.
وَمِنْ آيَاتِهِ يُرِيكُمُ الْبَرْقَ خَوْفًا وَطَمَعًا وَيُنَزِّلُ مِنَ السَّمَاءِ مَاءً فَيُحْيِي بِهِ الْأَرْضَ بَعْدَ مَوْتِهَا ۚ إِنَّ فِي ذَٰلِكَ لَآيَاتٍ لِقَوْمٍ يَعْقِلُونَ ٢٤
(30:24) And of His signs is He shows you the lightning, in fear and hope, and He sends down water from the sky, and with it revives the earth after its death. There are indeed signs in that for a people who apply reason.
In the Arabic it appears as though the verb He shows you stands in for an infinitive, as it does in the verses …that He created you… () and …that He created for you… (). This device is an elegant way of using Arabic, as in the proverb: “Hearing Muʿīdī is better than to see him.” And there is no doubt that this is how the verbs at the opening of these verses are being used.
It is possible that He shows you also has an implicit “that” (an), in which case the meaning becomes that He shows you the lightning… and this is strengthened by the fact that in some recitations He shows you is accusative.
It is also possible that there is an implicit possessive construct (iḍāfa), meaning “And of His signs is the sign of Him showing you the lighting…”; or that the intended meaning was “And of His signs was the sign of lightning”; or that of His signs is actually the object of the verb He shows you in which case the meaning becomes And or He shows you or of His signs or the lightning; or it is possible that of His signs is adverbial for the lightning, meaning: “And He shows you the lightning while lightning is one of His signs.”
And it should be obvious to you, dear reader, how unlikely these readings are; some of them actually destroy the coherence between this verse and the one’s before it—especially the last two.
In fear and hope—meaning in fear of the thunderclaps and in hope of the rain; and He sends down water from the sky, and with it revives the earth after its death—we have commented on this refrain several times before—There are indeed signs in that for a people who apply reason—meaning those who apply reason understand that there is a divine intelligence behind these phenomena; the benefits that come from them are no coincidence.
وَمِنْ آيَاتِهِ أَنْ تَقُومَ السَّمَاءُ وَالْأَرْضُ بِأَمْرِهِ ۚ ثُمَّ إِذَا دَعَاكُمْ دَعْوَةً مِنَ الْأَرْضِ إِذَا أَنْتُمْ تَخْرُجُونَ ٢٥
(30:25) And of His signs is that the sky and the earth stand by His command, and then, when He calls you, calling forth from the earth, behold, you will come forth.
“To stand” (qiyām) is the opposite of “to sit” (quʿūd). The former is the most upright posture of the human being because it is in that position that he is able to undertake most of his activities. This is why God uses it metaphorically to portray something as firmly established in the most upright fashion, just as He uses it metaphorically for looking after the affairs of something else. God says: Is He who sustains every soul in spite of what it earns… ().
For the sky and the earth to stand by God’s command means that they are firmly established in their condition; their movement and their stillness; their change and their stability; all is by His command. And we can know the nature of God’s command from the verse: All His command, when He wills something, is to say to it Be, and it is ().
…and then (idhā), when He calls you, calling forth from the earth, behold (idhā), you will come forth: The first idhā (then) is conditional, the second is to express surprise (fajāʾiyya) and also fulfils the role of the particle of the consequent, fāʾ. From the earth is connected to calling forth and the sentence as a whole is joined to the grammatical position of the previous sentence (but not its meaning). This is because the sentence, and then, when He calls you… is speaking about the Resurrection and returning to God; this is not one of God’s signs but rather something that God has presented proofs for before and will present proofs for later.
As for those who interpret this to be connected to the sentence …that the sky and the earth stand…, with the meaning: “And of his signs is that the sky and the earth stand by His command, and that you shall come forth from the earth when He calls you.” However, this implies that the Resurrection is counted amongst God’s signs, which is incorrect. This is because the Resurrection is one of the three fundamental beliefs (along with Divine Unity and Prophethood) which the signs are supposed to point to; Resurrection cannot, for example, be treated as a sign for Divine Unity because, if anything, Divine Unity points to the Resurrection.
The signs mentioned so far in this section; the creation of human beings from dust; their creation in two sexes; their different languages and colors; their sleep and seeking God’s grace; lightning and rain from the heavens—all of these signs relate to looking after the affairs of the human being. Therefore, based on the context, the phrase that the sky and the earth stand by His command means that they remain in their natural state which is conducive to human existence, which is connected to them. So when God says then, when He calls you…, this is something that will come to pass after the sky and the earth have stood by God’s command. In other words, the Resurrection is concomitant with the destruction of the natural order. This is something to which many verses throughout the Qur’an have called attention.
From this it also becomes plain that when God says, among His signs is the creation of the heavens and the earth (), this means their creation insofar as they are connected to human life and are of benefit to human beings.
These verses discuss the full spectrum of human existence, from the origin of the human species, to its diversity of genders, languages and colors, to its existence in the heavens and the earth, its quest for sustenance, and its slumber, before turning to the fact that the natural order—such as the flashing lightning and falling rain—will persist until a fixed time. All of this is to bring the human species to completion, and ultimately leads to the Resurrection.
God ends each section of signs with a different refrain; reflect, know, listen and apply reason. He uses this particular order to show that if a person reflects, he will gain knowledge. Then, when he hears some truths, he will understand them and comprehend them. And God knows best.
وَلَهُ مَنْ فِي السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ ۖ كُلٌّ لَهُ قَانِتُونَ ٢٦
(30:26) To Him belongs whoever is in the heavens and the earth. All are submissive to Him.
As was indicated previously, the verses under consideration are intended to establish God’s lordship and divinity. Once the discussion reaches the topic of the Resurrection and returning to God, this is followed by a logical proof of its possibility and an argument based on God’s creation and governance of the cosmos which has just been demonstrated by the aforementioned signs.
When God says: To Him belongs whoever is in the heavens and the earth, it refers to the fact that His dominion encompasses everyone in the heavens and the earth and they will all be brought back to Him. This is because their existence, from every aspect, depends upon Him; everything that exists stands in need of Him and cannot endure independently from Him in any way, shape or form. This is real dominion (mulk ḥaqīqī). And it logically follows that the sovereign (mālik) has the right to do as He pleases with His domain; therefore God can move His servants from this world to the Hereafter.
All are submissive to Him: According to what al-Rāghib has mentioned in the Mufradāt, “submissiveness” (qunūt) means to obey another with humility. Here, obedience with humility refers to a cosmic obedience—as suggested by the context—rather than moral obedience which, unlike the former kind, can be contravened.
This includes the angels, jinn and humans. It is the nature of the angels to submit to God, but humans and jinn obey because they are subject to the cosmic order, and whenever they try to prevent one cause having an effect, they do so by resorting to yet another cause in the same order. Their knowledge, desires and free-will are all part of this cosmic order and therefore only what God wills—namely that whose causes have obtained in objective reality—will come to pass. Nothing they desire or will to happen actually happens without God’s leave. Therefore He is the true sovereign and master of both them and whatever they possess.