ibn al-Musayyib. They both said: “The deprived person is one who has no share in Islam.” Linguistically, it means one who has been denied goodness and provision.

Qatādah and al-Zuhrī said: “The deprived person is the one who refrains from asking.”

Zayd ibn Aslam said: He is the one whose fruit, crops, or livestock offspring have been afflicted. This was also the view of Muḥammad ibn Kaʿb al-Quraẓī, who said: “The deprived person is one struck by a calamity.” (2) He then recited: “Indeed, we are burdened with loss; rather, we are deprived.” (al-Wāqiʿah 56:66–67)

“And on the earth are signs for those of sure faith; and in your own selves—will you not then see? And in heaven is your provision and whatever you are promised. So by the Lord of heaven and earth, it is indeed true, as surely as you speak.” (20–23)

His saying, “And on the earth are signs”—that is, lessons—“for those of sure faith,” when they travel through it and observe its mountains, seas, trees, fruits, and the various kinds of vegetation. “And in your own selves” are signs: you were a drop of fluid, then a clinging clot, then a lump of flesh, then bones, until the spirit was breathed into it.

ʿAṭāʾ related from Ibn ʿAbbās that this refers to the differences in languages, forms, colors, and dispositions.

Ibn al-Zubayr said: It refers to the passages for relieving oneself and urinating: a person eats and drinks through one opening, yet expels through two passages.

“Will you not then see?” Muqātil said: Will you not see how He created you, and thus recognize His power to resurrect?

“And in heaven is your provision.” Ibn ʿAbbās, Mujāhid, and Muqātil said: This means the rain, which is the means of provision. “And whatever you are promised”—ʿAṭāʾ said: of reward and punishment. Mujāhid said: of good and evil. Al-Ḍaḥḥāk said: whatever you are promised of Paradise and Hellfire. Then He swore by Himself, saying:

“So by the Lord of heaven and earth, it is indeed true”—that is, what I have mentioned concerning provision is certainly true. “As surely as”—Ḥamzah, al-Kisāʾī, and Abū Bakr in his transmission from ʿĀṣim recited mithlu, with the final letter in the nominative, as an appositive of “true”; the others recited it in the accusative, meaning, “like.” “You speak”—that is, you say: “There is no god but Allah.” It was also said that He likened the certainty of what He has informed of to the certainty of