﴿10–11﴾ “He created the heavens without pillars that you can see, and placed firm mountains in the earth lest it sway with you, and dispersed throughout it every kind of living creature. We sent down water from the sky and caused every noble variety to grow therein. * This is Allah’s creation. So show Me what those besides Him have created. Rather, the wrongdoers are in manifest error.”
Allah Most High recounts to His servants some manifestations of His power, wonders of His wisdom, and blessings arising from His mercy. He said, “He created the heavens”—the seven heavens, despite their immense size, vast expanse, massive structure, and tremendous height—“without pillars that you can see.” That is, they have no pillars; had they possessed pillars, those pillars would have been visible. Rather, they remain settled and firmly held in place by the power of Allah Most High.
“And He placed firm mountains in the earth”—that is, immense mountains that He firmly set throughout its regions and parts—“lest it sway with you.” Were it not for these firmly rooted mountains, the earth would sway and would not remain stable beneath its inhabitants.
“And dispersed throughout it every kind of living creature.” That is, He spread across the vast earth every kind of creature, all of which have been subjected to the children of Adam for their interests and benefit. Having dispersed them throughout the earth, Allah Most High knew that they required provision by which to live. He therefore sent down blessed water from the sky, “and caused every noble variety to grow therein”—beautiful, beneficial, and blessed. The creatures dispersed across the earth grazed upon it, and every animal found contentment therein.
“This”—that is, the creation of the upper and lower realms, including inanimate things and living creatures, and the delivery of His creatures’ provisions to them—“is Allah’s creation,” His alone, without partner. Everyone acknowledges this, even you, company of polytheists.
“So show Me what those besides Him have created.” That is, those whom you have made His partners and whom you invoke and worship. Your claim necessarily entails that they must have created as He created and provided as He provided. If they possess anything of that nature, then show it to Me so that your claim that they deserve worship may be valid.
It is well known that they cannot show Him anything created by those supposed partners, because they acknowledge that everything mentioned is the creation of Allah alone, and nothing else besides these things is known. ⦗648⦘ Thus, their inability to establish that those partners possess anything by which they could deserve worship is conclusively proven.
Yet they worship them without knowledge or insight, merely out of ignorance and error. Hence He said, “Rather, the wrongdoers are in manifest error”—that is, plain and obvious error, for they worship those who have no power to bring benefit or harm, death or life or resurrection, while abandoning sincere devotion to the Creator, the Provider, and the Sovereign of all affairs.