It has also been said that He sent down the water through which the cotton from which clothing is made grows, and through which grows the vegetation upon which livestock subsist.

It has also been said that “He sent down for you from the livestock” means that He made them a ready provision and sustenance for you. “Eight pairs”: that is, eight kinds, whose explanation occurs in Surah al-An'am (1). “He creates you in your mothers’ wombs, stage after stage”: as a drop of sperm, then a clinging clot, then a lump of flesh, as Allah Most High says: “While He has created you in successive stages” (Quran 71:14). “In threefold darkness”: Ibn Abbas said: the darkness of the abdomen, the darkness of the womb, and the darkness of the placental membrane (2). “Such is Allah”—who created these things—“your Lord; to Him belongs all dominion. There is no deity but Him. So how then are you turned away?” That is, how are you turned away from the path of truth after this clear exposition?

“If you disbelieve, then Allah is free of need of you, and He does not approve disbelief for His servants. But if you are grateful, He approves it for you. No bearer of burdens will bear the burden of another. Then to your Lord is your return, and He will inform you of what you used to do. Surely, He knows well what lies within the breasts. (7) And when adversity touches a human being, he calls upon his Lord, turning to Him. Then, when He bestows upon him a favor from Himself, he forgets that for which he had previously called upon Him, and sets up rivals alongside Allah in order to lead others astray from His way. Say, ‘Enjoy your disbelief for a little while; surely you are among the inhabitants of the Fire.’ (8)”

“If you disbelieve, then Allah is free of need of you, and He does not approve disbelief for His servants.” Ibn Abbas and al-Suddi said: He does not approve disbelief for His believing servants. They are those of whom Allah Most High says: “Indeed, as for My servants, you shall have no authority over them” (Quran 15:42). Thus, the wording is general while the intended meaning is specific, as in His saying: “A spring from which the servants of Allah will drink” (Quran 76:6), by which He means some of His servants. Others understood it in its general sense and said: He does not approve disbelief for any of His servants.

The meaning of the verse is that He does not approve that His servants should disbelieve in Him. This is narrated from Qatadah and is the view of the Salaf. They said: The disbelief of the disbeliever is not approved by Allah, even though it occurs by His will. “But if you are grateful”—that is, if you believe in your Lord and obey Him—“He approves it for you,” and so rewards you for it. Abu Amr recited it with the final hā' unvowelled; the reciters of Madinah, Asim, and Hamzah pronounced it with a shortened vowel, while the rest gave it its full vowel. “No bearer of burdens will bear the burden of another. Then to your Lord is your return, and He will inform you of what you used to do. Surely, He knows well what lies within the breasts.”

“And when adversity touches a human being, he calls upon his Lord, turning to Him”: returning to Him and seeking His aid. “Then, when He bestows upon him a favor from Himself”: that is, when He grants him a favor from Himself. “He forgets”: that is, he abandons “that for which he had previously called upon Him”; in other words, he forgets the adversity which