And they carry your burdens to a land which you could not reach except with great hardship. Indeed, your Lord is Most Kind, Most Merciful.” (7)

“[He] created the heavens and the earth in truth. Exalted is He above whatever they associate with Him.” That is, He is exalted above whatever they associate with Him. “He created man from a drop of fluid, yet behold, he is a clear disputant”—one who argues falsely.

This was revealed concerning Ubayy ibn Khalaf al-Jumahi, who denied the Resurrection. He came carrying a decayed bone and said, “Do you claim that Allah, Exalted is He, will bring this to life after it has crumbled away?” As He, majestic is His mention, says: “And he sets forth for Us a parable and forgets his own creation” (Ya-Sin 77). This too was revealed concerning him. (1)

The sound view is that the verse is general in meaning. It demonstrates Allah’s power and exposes the ugliness of what they did in denying Allah’s blessings, despite their being plainly evident to them. (2)

His words, “And He created the livestock,” mean camels, cattle, and sheep. “In them are warmth,” meaning garments and coverings made from their camel hair, hair, and wool, by which you keep warm; “and other benefits,” through offspring, milk, riding, carrying loads, and other such uses; “and from them you eat,” meaning their meat.

“And in them there is beauty for you,” that is, adornment, “when you bring them home,” meaning when you return them in the evening from their pastures to the places where they rest, “and when you lead them out to pasture,” meaning when you take them out in the morning from their enclosures to their grazing grounds. Their return in the evening is mentioned before their departure because their benefits are taken from them after they return, and their owner finds them more pleasing when they come home.

“And they carry your burdens,” meaning your loads, “to a land,” other than your own land. Ikrimah said: the land is Mecca. “Which you could not reach except with great hardship,” that is, with difficulty and exertion. The word also means “half”; that is, you would not have reached it