Verses 15–22
The verses in this section repeatedly mention signs of God’s organization and management of the universe, which prove His lordship. These are coupled with warnings and intimidations, such as the verse He it is Who made the earth docile and manageable for you, therefore go about on the surface of the earth, and eat of His sustenance, and to Him is the return after death (). And the verse Have they not seen the birds above them expanding (their wings) and contracting (them)? What is it that withholds them save the Beneficent Allah? Surely He sees everything (). These verses occur after such verses as Who created death and life that He may try you—which of you is best in deeds; and He is the Mighty, the Forgiving (), and the verse Who created the seven heavens one above another; you see no incongruity in the creation of the Most Merciful; then look again, can you see any disorder? () And the verse And certainly We have adorned this lower heaven with lamps and We have made these missiles for the satans, and We have prepared for them the chastisement of burning ().
Commentary
هُوَ الَّذِي جَعَلَ لَكُمُ الْأَرْضَ ذَلُولًا فَامْشُوا فِي مَنَاكِبِهَا وَكُلُوا مِنْ رِزْقِهِ ۖ وَإِلَيْهِ النُّشُورُ١٥
(67:15) He it is Who made the earth docile and manageable for you, therefore go about on the surface of the earth, and eat of His sustenance, and to Him is the return after death.
A vessel that is docile and manageable (zalūlan) is a vessel, mounting and riding which is easy without it shaking and trembling, and without it being unruly and recalcitrant. The word al-manākib is the plural of al-mankab. It is the point where the upper arm and the shoulder meet (shoulder joint). It is used figuratively for the surface of the earth. Al-Rāghib writes: “the figurative use of it (that is, the word al-manākib) for the (surface of the) earth is as the figurative use of the word al-ẓahr for it (that is, for the [surface of the] earth), such as in the verse …He would not leave on the back of it (ẓahrihā, that is, on the back of the earth) any creature… ().” Describing the earth as docile, manageable, and tractable (zalūlan), and rendering its back (or surface) as ‘shoulder joints’ (al-manākib) where a human being is able to settle on it and walk on it, is on account of the earth’s submission and subservience to different kinds of human activity, without resistance. This is while the earth being docile and tractable (zalūlan), and having ‘shoulder joints’ (al-manākib), has been explained from different perspectives, all of which mean what we have mentioned above.
… and eat of His sustenance, and to Him is the return after death: The imperative to eat of the earth’s sustenance, in this verse, is in order to denote permissibility while the words al-nushūr and al-nashr mean “enlivening the dead after their death.” The root or original meaning of these words is the unrolling of a scroll and the unrolling of cloth when a person spreads the scroll and the cloth out after they had been folded.
Hence the meaning obtained is: “He (God) it is who rendered the earth compliant, amenable, and subservient to you all. All of you are able to settle on its back (that is, its surface) and walk on it. You eat from its sustenance, which He has measured out for you, (and you do so) by different means of seeking, application, and action on it.”
… and to Him is the return after death: This means that the resurrection of the dead by them being taken out of the earth, and them being enlivened for reckoning and recompense, lies or rests with God. This is while the specification of resurrection lying with God means underlining that the judgement and the command for resurrection lies with Him along with the enlivening (of creatures) on the day of resurrection. Thus He is your Lord. He is the one who manages the affairs of your worldly lives by stabilizing the earth and rendering it smooth, and guiding you to the purpose and goal of your lives. And with Him lies the judgment and the command for resurrection, reckoning, and recompense.
Finally, the description of the earth as docile and manageable (zalūlan), and the description of the humans on its ‘shoulder joints’ (manākib, that is, surface), is a manifest hint to what recent scientific studies have led to, regarding the earth being a planetary sphere or globe that is ambulant.
أَأَمِنْتُمْ مَنْ فِي السَّمَاءِ أَنْ يَخْسِفَ بِكُمُ الْأَرْضَ فَإِذَا هِيَ تَمُورُ ١٦
(67:16) Are you secure of him who is in the heaven that he will not make the earth to swallow you up? Then lo! It shall be in a state of commotion.
This verse serves as warning and intimidation (for the disbelievers) after the establishment of proof (of God’s lordship). It also serves as censure and rebuke for them for taking liberties in respect of the matter of (God’s) lordship, and for their negligence and inattention to gratitude for the blessings of their lord, (which they were supposed to demonstrate) by means of submitting and yielding to His lordship and rejecting what they had invented of peers (for Him).
The meaning of the part of this verse that says …him who is in the heaven… (man fī al-samā’) refers to the angels that inhabit it; those that have been made in charge of cosmic incidents and events. This is while the (third person) singular pronoun (he/it) inherent to the singular present tense verb yakhsifa (he/it shall make the earth to swallow up) refers to the relative pronoun man (meaning: him/it who) due to its wording. The phenomenon of ‘the swallowing up of a people by the earth’, mentioned in this verse … the earth to swallow you up... means its splitting and cleaving apart and causing them to disappear into its depths. This is while the word al-mawr, on the basis of what is found in the Qurᵓān commentary Majmaᶜ al-Bayān means ‘the frequency of coming and going (rolling and churning) like the waves’.
Thus the meaning of this verse is: “do you think you are secure in your rejection of God’s lordship, from the angels inhabiting the heavens; angels who have been made in charge of the matters of the universe in that they will not make the earth cleave apart and cause you to disappear into it with God’s permission? In that case then, the earth shall convulse, in the form of comings and goings, by its quaking and trembling.”
It is suggested that the referent of …him who is in the heaven… is to God, and that the mention of Him being in the heaven refers to His power, authority, governance and command in the heaven. This is because it is impossible that God is in a specific place or in a specific direction or surrounded by a realm from the realms. Although this interpretation has no problem to it, yet it is contrary to the apparent meaning.
أَمْ أَمِنْتُمْ مَنْ فِي السَّمَاءِ أَنْ يُرْسِلَ عَلَيْكُمْ حَاصِبًا ۖ فَسَتَعْلَمُونَ كَيْفَ نَذِيرِ ١٧
(67:17) Or are you secure of him who is in the heaven that he will not send down upon you a stone storm? Then shall you know how was My warning.
The word al-ḥāṣib in this verse means ‘the wind which comes accompanied with pebbles and stones’. The meaning of this verse is ‘or do you think you are secure from him who is in the heavens in that he will not send down upon you a wind consisting of pebbles and stones as he sent down on the people of Lot? This is attested in the speech of God which says Surely We sent upon them a stone storm, except Lot’s followers… ().’
The statement, Then shall you know how was My warning contains the word al-nadhīr. It is a verbal noun, meaning ‘warning, cautioning, putting one in fear, putting one on his/her guard’ (al-indhār). This statement is a ramification or a consequence of what can be understood from the preceding speech regarding their rejection and disbelief in God’s lordship and their feeling secure from His punishment, and the meaning of the verse is obvious.
It is also said that the word al-nadhīr is an adjective in the meaning of (the active participle) al-mundhir, meaning ‘one who warns and cautions, one who instills fear’. This is understood to refer to the Prophet but this interpretation is absurd.
وَلَقَدْ كَذَّبَ الَّذِينَ مِنْ قَبْلِهِمْ فَكَيْفَ كَانَ نَكِيرِ ١٨
(67:18) And certainly those before them rejected (the truth), then how (terrible) was My disapproval!
The word nakīr in this verse means ‘punishment and the altering of blessings’, or it means ‘denial’. This verse is as a witness or testifier by which the truth of the content of the previous verse, in terms of what it contains of a threat, is sought to be testified to, which is Then shall you know how was My warning ().
Hence, the meaning obtained is: “And certainly those before them of the destroyed peoples, belied and denied My messengers and denied My lordship. So how terrible was My punishment and the manner in which I changed the blessings on them!? Or how terrible was my denial of them whereby I destroyed them and eradicated them!?”
This verse contains a rhetorical shift (al-iltifāt) in discourse from second person (in the previous verses) to third person here where it says …before them… notifying thereby of the fall in estimation of the disbelievers and of their unworthiness of having the honor of a direct (divine) address. This is due to their ignorance and neglect in pondering over the signs of God’s lordship and due to their lack of fear and worry of their Lord’s displeasure. Thus God’s address abstained from addressing them directly in respect of what was being recited to them of knowledge and wisdom, and instead addressed the Prophet (so that he may convey the same to them).
أَوَلَمْ يَرَوْا إِلَى الطَّيْرِ فَوْقَهُمْ صَافَّاتٍ وَيَقْبِضْنَ ۚ مَا يُمْسِكُهُنَّ إِلَّا الرَّحْمَٰنُ ۚ إِنَّهُ بِكُلِّ شَيْءٍ بَصِيرٌ ١٩
(67:19) Have they not seen the birds above them expanding (their wings) and contracting (them)? What is it that holds them save the Merciful Allah? Surely He sees everything.
The clause, …the birds above them…means their flight in the air above them. The feminine plural active participle ṣāffātin, which is in reference to the birds, means ‘the extension or spreading out of the wings of the birds (in a straight line) during flight’, while the third person feminine plural present tense verb yaqbiḍna, in reference to the birds, means ‘their contracting or closing their wings during flight’. This is while the reason the plural active participle ṣāffātin and the plural present tense verb yaqbiḍna occur in this verse, in reference to the word al-ṭayr (which is singular, its plural being al-ṭuyūr), is because the intent of the word al-ṭayr (the bird), in this verse, is to signify the class or species of birds (that is, it is understood here as a generic or collective noun (birds) (but it is also a unit noun—nomen unitatis)).
What is it that holds them save the Merciful Allah? It features like a response to an implicit question that a questioner asks, saying: ‘what is the meaning of them (the disbelievers) turning their sights or attention to look at the birds extending and contracting their wings in flight above them?’ The response made is What is it that holds them save the Merciful Allah?
The steadiness of the bird in the air during flight without dropping to earth, even if reliant on natural causes akin to the stability of the human being on the surface of the earth and the stability of the fish in water and all the rest of the natural things that rely on natural causes, has these causes (ultimately) terminate with God. However, when the causes of some occurrences are not apparent to the human being at first glance, it is easier for the human being, on observing something, to realize that it is God who is the ultimate cause with whom a thing’s occurrence and existence terminates. That is why, God draws their attention in this verse to turn their gaze to the birds in the sky, using that as proof of His unity in lordship.
Many things of this sort have been mentioned in God’s speech such as the sky remaining aloft without any pillars, the stability of the earth, the safe sailing of ships on water, and the diversity of fruits, colors, tongues, and others, for which the near natural cause is hidden in general. In such cases it is easy for the simple mind to understand that these things rely on God. Thereafter, when and if the human being learns of the existence of the near causes of these things and phenomena, by means of intellectual effort, he will feel the very same need to discover their causes till he arrives at God (as the ultimate cause), and to God is the ultimate goal.
(Al-Zamakhshari) says the following in his al-Kashshāf:
If you said: ‘why does the verse use a verb for the phenomenon of the contraction of the wings (that is, the verb yaqbiḍna) rather than using the feminine plural active participle qābiḍātin (akin to ṣāffātin, which it did for the phenomenon of extending and spreading out of the wings)?’ then I would reply: ‘This is because the basis in flying is the extension or spreading out of the wings (in a single line), in the air, just like swimming in the water. The basis in swimming is the extension and stretching out of the limbs. This is while contraction or closing or folding is incidental to extending and stretching, (and it is) in order to seek to demonstrate movement with it. Thus the verse uses a verb (yaqbiḍna) for what is incidental and not basic, in that the birds spread out and expand their wings (ṣāffātin) (which is essential to flying), while contracting or folding the wings occurs sometimes (which is incidental), as is the case with swimming’.
This is based on the notion that the divine sign (intended to be conveyed by this verse) is the sum total of God’s speech …them expanding (their wings) (ṣāffātin) and contracting (them) (yaqbiḍna)…
(However), it is (also) possible to understand that the divine sign intended to be conveyed by this verse is that the birds do not drop from the sky while they are stretching and expanding their wings, and another sign is that perhaps they contract their wings and yet do not drop from the sky while contracting them.
It is clear that what is intended by the mention of the flight of birds in the air (in this verse), which mention follows the mention of the earth being rendered docile and tractable while the human being is on its surface (in ) is to demonstrate God’s grace, favor and mercy.
أَمَّنْ هَٰذَا الَّذِي هُوَ جُنْدٌ لَكُمْ يَنْصُرُكُمْ مِنْ دُونِ الرَّحْمَٰنِ ۚ إِنِ الْكَافِرُونَ إِلَّا فِي غُرُورٍ ٢٠
(67:20) Or who is it that will be a host for you to assist you besides the Merciful Allah? The unbelievers are only in deception.
This verse serves as censure and rebuke to the disbelievers for taking deities other than God so that the former may help them. That is why the verse’s mode of address shifts rhetorically (al-iltifāt) from the third person (in the previous verses) to second person here. Thus this verse addresses them (directly) in order to intensify the censure and rebuke made against them.
The verse means ‘rather, who is it that can be pointed out to so that it may be said: “this is your host who will help you, to the exclusion of the Merciful, if the latter intended you evil or intended punishment for you? Indeed, there is none, excluding the Merciful, who can help you against Him!” Therefore this verse points to their error in taking some of God’s creatures as deities so that the latter may help them in moments of distress and misfortune. The error lies in the fact that these supposed deities themselves are owned by God and are His creatures, unable to benefit or cause harm to themselves or to others.
And when they fail to produce an answer, God responds by His speech …The unbelievers are only in deception. This means deception has overcome and deceived them, and consequently it has made them believe that what they call to of their deities, are (truly) their deities.
أَمَّنْ هَٰذَا الَّذِي يَرْزُقُكُمْ إِنْ أَمْسَكَ رِزْقَهُ ۚ بَلْ لَجُّوا فِي عُتُوٍّ وَنُفُورٍ ٢١
(67:21) Or who is it that will give you sustenance if He should withhold His sustenance? Nay! They persist in disdain and aversion.
This verse means: “Rather, who is it that can be pointed to, in that he is the one who can feed you if God were to withhold His sustenance (from you), in the sense that the one pointed to would stand in God’s place, and feed you?” Then God responds by His speech Nay! They persist in disdain and aversion. This means that the truth has become manifest and clear to them, however they refuse to surrender and submit to it by believing in it and assenting to it, and thereafter obeying it, rather they persist in avoiding the truth, and persist in being further away from it, and they continue to be averse to it, persistently.
أَفَمَنْ يَمْشِي مُكِبًّا عَلَىٰ وَجْهِهِ أَهْدَىٰ أَمَّنْ يَمْشِي سَوِيًّا عَلَىٰ صِرَاطٍ مُسْتَقِيمٍ ٢٢
(67:22) What! Is he who goes prone upon his face better guided or he who walks upright upon a straight path?
The phrase ikbāb al-shay ᶜalā wajhihi means ‘to cause something to fall on its face’. Al-Zamakhshari in al-Kashshāf writes: ‘the (masculine third person singular past tense) verb akabba (whose active participle is mukibban, and which occurs in this verse) means: ‘he went into prostration or threw himself down on his face and became prostate or prone’.’
The interrogative in this verse is in a rhetorical style which aims to convey disapproval, censure, and rebuke (by the speaker) regarding the equivalence of the two states (mentioned in this verse). This rhetorical interrogative is known as al-istif’hām al-inkāriy. It serves to subject the disbelievers to this disapproval and rebuke after having cast the veil of invisibility over them (thereby rendering them as if invisible and inconsequential), refusing them the honor of acknowledging their presence, and refusing them the honor of (a direct divine) address after the trait of stubborn insistence on disbelief having had become established in them. Thus the meaning of this verse is that the disbelievers, due to their stubborn insistence on a strange kind of arrogance, and a reluctance and distaste for truth, are like a person who treads a path while he is prone on his face. He does not see what is on the path of an elevation or depression, or of an inclination or a hole. Such a walker is therefore unlike the one who walks upright on the straight path where he can see where he is placing his foot and what he is to encounter from the path due to (his) walking upright, and what he intends in terms of his goal from the path.
These disbelievers are walking on the path of life while opposing the truth despite having knowledge of it. Thus they are closing their eyes from the knowledge of what is incumbent on them to know, and they are closing their eyes from acting on what is incumbent on them to act on. They are not submitting to the truth so that they may perceive the matter rightly and tread the path of life while they are upright on the straight path so that they may be safe from destruction!
It is apparent that the content of this verse is a general parable epitomizing the state of the importunate, ignorant disbeliever who persists on his ignorance, and the discerning believer searching for the truth.
Examining Narrations
- Imām al-Bāqir said: ‘The heart is of four types. A heart which contains hypocrisy and faith, a heart that is overturned, a heart that is sealed, and a heart that is radiant and luminous’. (The transmitter of the report from the Imām (by the name of Sa’d) said: ‘I asked: ‘what is the radiant and luminous heart?’ The Imām replied: ‘it is in the form of a lamp’. (The Imām continued): ‘As for the sealed heart, then that is the heart of the hypocrite. As for the radiant and luminous heart, that is the heart of the believer. If He (God) grants it (a blessing), it is grateful and if He (God) tries it (with an affliction), it is patient. As for the heart that is overturned, that is the heart of the polytheist’, and then the Imām recited this verse What! Is he who goes prone upon his face better guided or he who walks upright upon a straight path? () (The Imām continued his speech, saying): ‘As for the heart that has both faith and hypocrisy in it, then that pertains to a group of people who are with al-ṭā‘if (one who goes round and about, one who visits). So if one among them meets his death on hypocrisy, he perishes, and if he meets his death on faith, he is saved’.
Author’s comment: The author of Tafsīr al-Burhān has narrated this report from Ibn Bābwayhi via his chain of transmission from al-Fuḍayl, from Sa’d al-Khaffāf from Abu Ja’far al-Bāqir, where the Imām is attributed to have said: ‘Surely the hearts are of four types….’ And thereafter the report continues (akin to the report above) till its end save that it has, for the ‘radiant and luminous heart’, the words: ‘And the radiant heart is more luminous’.
As for the part of the report that says: ‘As for the heart that has both faith and hypocrisy in it, then that pertains to a group of people who are with al-ṭāʾif, then the meaning of that is ‘the wandering/roaming satan’ (al-ṭāʾif al-shayṭāni) who may touch or afflict a human being (by means of a visitation in the form of an affliction or evil thought). God says Surely those who guard (against evil), when a visitation from the Satan (ṭāʾif min al-shayṭān) afflicts them they become mindful, then lo! They see (). Therefore the meaning is that such people (that is, those whose hearts contain both faith and hypocrisy) live with a ‘wandering/roaming satan’ who touches them time and again. Hence if death comes upon them while the ‘wandering/roaming satan’ is with them, they perish, however if death comes upon them while they are in the state of faith, then they are saved.
Also, do know that there are reports which apply (taṭbīq) this verse What! Is he who goes prone upon his face better guided or he who walks upright upon a straight path? () to whoever strays from the path of the belief in the guardianship (wilāya) of Imām ‘Alī and strays from the path of whoever follows him and supports him, respectively. Such reports are examples of the application of the verse to instances of it (al-jary wa al-taṭbīq), and ultimately God knows best.
Al-Kāfī through his chain of transmission from Sa’d, from him. ↩︎