Tafsir al-Sadi - Abd al-Rahman al-Sadi’ - (520)

(16–17) “We did not create the heaven and the earth and everything between them in play. Had We wished to take some amusement, We could have taken it from Our own presence—if We were to do so.”

Allah Most High informs us that He did not create the heavens and the earth aimlessly or in play, without any purpose. Rather, He created them in truth and for the truth, so that His servants might infer from them that He is the Almighty Creator, the All-Wise Disposer of affairs, the Most Compassionate, the Most Merciful, to whom belong all perfection, all praise, and all might; that He is truthful in His speech; and that His messengers are truthful in what they report from Him. They may also know that the One who is able to create the heavens and the earth, despite their vastness and immensity, is able to restore bodies after their death, so that He may reward the doer of good for his goodness and requite the evildoer for his evil.

“Had We wished to take some amusement”—as a hypothetical and impossible supposition—“We could have taken it from Our own presence,” meaning: from what is with Us, “if We were to do so.” We would not have disclosed to you anything involving aimlessness or amusement, for that would be a deficiency and an evil attribute that We would not wish to display to you. Thus, the heavens and the earth, which are continually before your eyes, cannot possibly have been intended for aimlessness and amusement. All of this is an accommodation to limited minds and an appeal to them through every persuasive means. Glory be to the Forbearing, the Merciful, who wisely assigns all things their proper place.

﴿١٦ - ١٧﴾ ﴿وَمَا خَلَقْنَا السَّمَاءَ وَالأرْضَ وَمَا بَيْنَهُمَا لاعِبِينَ * لَوْ أَرَدْنَا أَنْ نَتَّخِذَ لَهْوًا لاتَّخَذْنَاهُ مِنْ لَدُنَّا إِنْ كُنَّا فَاعِلِينَ﴾ . يخبر تعالى أنه ما خلق السماوات والأرض عبثا، ولا لعبا من غير فائدة، بل خلقها بالحق وللحق، ليستدل بها العباد على أنه الخالق العظيم، المدبر الحكيم، الرحمن الرحيم، الذي له الكمال كله، والحمد كله، والعزة كلها، الصادق في قيله، الصادقة رسله، فيما تخبر عنه، وأن القادر على خلقهما مع سعتهما وعظمهما، قادر على إعادة الأجساد بعد موتها، ليجازي المحسن بإحسانه، والمسيء بإساءته. ﴿لَوْ أَرَدْنَا أَنْ نَتَّخِذَ لَهْوًا﴾ على الفرض والتقدير المحال ﴿لاتَّخَذْنَاهُ مِنْ لَدُنَّا﴾ أي: من عندنا ﴿إِنْ كُنَّا فَاعِلِينَ﴾ ولم نطلعكم على ما فيه عبث ولهو، لأن ذلك نقص ومثل سوء، لا نحب أن نريه إياكم، فالسماوات والأرض اللذان بمرأى منكم على الدوام، لا يمكن أن يكون القصد منهما العبث واللهو، كل هذا تنزل مع العقول الصغيرة وإقناعها بجميع الوجوه المقنعة، فسبحان الحليم الرحيم، الحكيم في تنزيله الأشياء منازلها.