Verses 48–53
This is the third set of verses to draw an argument from God’s actions or, if you like, the divine names of His actions. The main purpose of this argument is to demonstrate the truth of the Resurrection (maʿād) as the bulk of the polytheists’ stubborn denial [of the Qur’anic message] was directed to the belief that they would be raised from the dead. Denying this, however, renders all the laws and teachings of Islam pointless and, indeed, renders belief in God’s unity (tawḥīd) pointless. God follows this argument by telling the Prophet not to hold out hope that they will accept his arguments but to focus on inviting those people who are already predisposed to faith, who are worthy of Islam and who will submit to the truth.
Commentary
اللَّهُ الَّذِي يُرْسِلُ الرِّيَاحَ فَتُثِيرُ سَحَابًا فَيَبْسُطُهُ فِي السَّمَاءِ كَيْفَ يَشَاءُ وَيَجْعَلُهُ كِسَفًا فَتَرَى الْوَدْقَ يَخْرُجُ مِنْ خِلَالِهِ ۖ فَإِذَا أَصَابَ بِهِ مَنْ يَشَاءُ مِنْ عِبَادِهِ إِذَا هُمْ يَسْتَبْشِرُونَ ٤٨
(30:48) It is Allah who sends the winds. Then they raise a cloud, then He spreads it as He wishes in the sky, and forms it into fragments, whereat you see the rain issuing from its midst. Then, when He strikes with it whomever of His servants that He wishes, behold, they rejoice.
“To raise” (ithāra) means to move and spread; the word used for “cloud” here is saḥāb, and “the sky” (samāʾ) means “the upwards direction”; whatever is above you and over you is part of the samāʾ. “Fragments” (kisaf) is the plural of kisfa, which means “a piece of something.” The word used for rain here is wadq, which means “drops of rain,” while “midst” is khilāl, which is the plural of khalal, meaning “a gap.”
The verse means that God is the one who sends winds to move and spread clouds; He spreads these clouds high in the air however He wishes, combining them and putting them one atop another to form new pieces. Then you see the rain issuing forth from them. He strikes whichever of His servants He wishes with that rain, whereat they rejoice because this rain is the substance of their life and the life of their crops and herds.
وَإِنْ كَانُوا مِنْ قَبْلِ أَنْ يُنَزَّلَ عَلَيْهِمْ مِنْ قَبْلِهِ لَمُبْلِسِينَ ٤٩
(30:49) and indeed they had, before it was sent down upon them, been despondent earlier.
“Despondent” (iblās) carries a similar meaning to “despair” (yaʾs) or qunūṭ (to be disheartened).
The pronoun “it” in it was sent down refers to the rain. It is said that earlier (min qablih) means “before the rain,” in which case this serves to emphasize the meaning of before it was sent down upon them (min qabl an yunazzal ʿalayhim). According to this reading, the emphasis shows how quickly human hearts change from despair to joy. This is because the phrase before it was sent down to them could signify an expansive period of time, therefore the emphasis earlier shows that this was near at hand.
In al-Kashshāf, we read that earlier is a kind of repetition and emphasis, as when God says: So the fate of both is that they will be in the Fire, to remain in it forever (). The point of this emphasis is to show that they had been waiting for rain for so long that they were gripped by despair, so that when the rains came their joy was proportional to the despair which they had felt.
Some might also say that the pronoun in “earlier” (min qablih) could refer to the sending of the winds. In other words, before the rain was sent down on them, they had been despondent until the winds were sent.
فَانْظُرْ إِلَىٰ آثَارِ رَحْمَتِ اللَّهِ كَيْفَ يُحْيِي الْأَرْضَ بَعْدَ مَوْتِهَا ۚ إِنَّ ذَٰلِكَ لَمُحْيِي الْمَوْتَىٰۖ وَهُوَ عَلَىٰ كُلِّ شَيْءٍ قَدِيرٌ ٥٠
(30:50) So observe the effects of Allah’s mercy: how He revives the earth after its death! Indeed That is the reviver of the dead, and He has power over all things.
“Effects” (āthār) is the plural of athar, which literally means the trace that something leaves behind, such as a footprint, or the ruin of a building. The term is used metaphorically to signify a thing’s results.
Here, the meaning of Allah’s mercy is the rain that descended from the clouds which had been spread by the winds and the effects of this mercy are its results such as the plants, trees and fruits, which are also the effects of the earth returning to life after it was dead.
That is why the Qur’an says observe the effects of Allah’s mercy as the effects of this mercy, represented by the rain, show how the earth is revived when it is dead. Therefore, the revival of the earth, and the plants, trees and fruits, which are the effects of its life, are all counted amongst the effects of God’s mercy. And this system, as a whole, is produced by the creation of the winds, the clouds and the rain.
Indeed That is the reviver of the dead: That refers to God, as it is His mercy that revives the earth after its death. The Qur’an uses the demonstrative pronoun that—which usually signifies something at a distance—to magnify and glorify God. Of course, the real meaning of the dead here is not the earth, but the human being and other living creatures.
Indeed That is the reviver of the dead serves to underscore the similarity between reviving the dead earth and reviving the dead. Both kinds of death involve the absence of the effects of living from something preserved, and life represents a resumption of those effects after their absence. This happens visibly in the earth and its plants, and here the Qur’an says that the life of human beings and other living creatures are no different, therefore if it is possible to revive the earth, so too must it be possible to revive the dead.
…and He has power over all things affirms the above revival through another explanation, namely that God’s power is absolute and such unlimited power includes the power to bring the dead back to life, otherwise this power would not be absolute or unlimited in the first place.
وَلَئِنْ أَرْسَلْنَا رِيحًا فَرَأَوْهُ مُصْفَرًّا لَظَلُّوا مِنْ بَعْدِهِ يَكْفُرُونَ ٥١
(30:51) And if We send a wind and they see it turn yellow, they will surely become ungrateful after that.
The pronoun “it” in see it turn yellow refers to the vegetation. This is understood from the context. They will surely become… is the object of an oath (jawāb al-qasam), which functions as a consequent proposition to And if We send… This renders the meaning: “And I swear that if We send a cold wind and strike their crops and trees yellow, they will surely become ungrateful for His blessings.”
This verse reprimands those who are fickle, changing with every turn of fortune. If they receive a blessing, they hasten to rejoice, but if God takes some of what He has given them out of His grace, they immediately become ungrateful for even the most obvious of blessings!
Some say that the pronoun in see it turn yellow refers to the clouds because when the clouds are yellow in color, this means they will not rain. Others say that it refers to the wind, because rīḥ can be either masculine or feminine. However, both opinions are unlikely.
فَإِنَّكَ لَا تُسْمِعُ الْمَوْتَىٰ وَلَا تُسْمِعُ الصُّمَّ الدُّعَاءَ إِذَا وَلَّوْا مُدْبِرِينَ ٥٢ وَمَا أَنْتَ بِهَادِ الْعُمْيِ عَنْ ضَلَالَتِهِمْ ۖ إِنْ تُسْمِعُ إِلَّا مَنْ يُؤْمِنُ بِآيَاتِنَا فَهُمْ مُسْلِمُونَ ٥٣
(30:52-53) Indeed you cannot make the dead hear, nor can you make the deaf hear the call when they turn their backs, nor can you lead the blind out of their error. You can make hear only those who have faith in Our signs, and thus have submitted.
This explains the wisdom of what was implied in the above verses. It is as if God says to His Messenger: “Do not be anxious or grieve for those who are so changeable—joyous one moment and despondent the next—and who disbelieve because they will not have faith in our signs or ponder upon them. They are the dead, the deaf and the blind, and you cannot make them hear or guide them. The only ones who hear and are guided are those who believe in our signs—meaning they ponder on these arguments and believe in them as a result; they are those who have submitted.”
And the full explanation of these two verses has already been given in our commentary on Sūrah al-Naml.