(2–4) “Allah is the One Who raised the heavens without pillars that you can see; then He rose over the Throne. He subjected the sun and the moon, each running for an appointed term. He governs all affairs and explains the signs in detail so that you may be certain of the meeting with your Lord. * It is He Who spread out the earth and placed therein firmly anchored mountains and rivers, and made therein two kinds of every fruit. He causes the night to cover the day. Surely in that are signs for people who reflect. * And on the earth are adjoining tracts, gardens of grapevines, crops, and palm trees—some growing together from one root and others standing alone—all watered with the same water; yet We make some of them excel others in taste. Surely in that are signs for people who understand.”
The Exalted informs us that He alone creates and governs, and of the greatness and dominion that show that He alone is worthy of worship and that worship should be devoted to none but Him. He says: “Allah is the One Who raised the heavens”—despite their immense size and vastness—by His mighty power, “without pillars that you can see.” That is, they have no pillars beneath them, for if they had pillars, you would see them. “Then,” after creating the heavens and the earth, “He rose over the Throne,” the mighty Throne that is the highest of all created things, in a manner befitting His majesty and consonant with His perfection.
“He subjected the sun and the moon” for the welfare of His servants, their livestock, and their crops and fruits. Each of the sun and moon “runs,” under the direction of the Almighty, the All-Knowing, “for an appointed term,” following an orderly course without faltering or growing weary, until the appointed term arrives—namely, when Allah folds up this world and transfers them to the abode of the Hereafter, the everlasting home. Allah will then fold up the heavens and replace them, and He will alter the earth and replace it. The sun and moon will be rolled up, brought together, and cast into the Fire so that those who worshipped them may see that they were unworthy of worship. They will thereby suffer the bitterest regret, and those who disbelieved will know that they were liars.
His words, “He governs all affairs and explains the signs in detail,” combine creation with command. That is, Allah the Magnificent has risen over the Throne of sovereignty and governs affairs throughout the upper and lower worlds. He creates and provides, enriches and impoverishes, raises some people and lowers others, grants honor and brings humiliation, lowers and elevates, pardons failings, relieves distress, and executes the decrees at their appointed times—decrees already encompassed by His prior knowledge and inscribed by His Pen. He also sends His noble angels to administer the affairs He has entrusted to them.
He sends down the divine Books to His messengers, explains the religious laws, commands, and prohibitions His servants need, and sets them forth with the utmost detail by making them clear, elucidating them, and distinguishing them from one another, “so that,” through the signs He has brought forth for you throughout the horizons and the Quranic signs, “you may be certain of the meeting with your Lord.” The abundance, clarity, and manifest nature of the evidence are among the means by which certainty is attained regarding all divine truths, especially the great tenets of faith, such as resurrection, rising again, and coming forth from the graves.
It is also known that Allah the Exalted is Wise: He does not create His creatures in vain or leave them without purpose. Just as He sent His messengers and revealed His Books to command and prohibit His servants, He must transfer them to an abode in which His recompense will be realized. There He will reward those who do good with the finest reward and repay those who do evil for their evil deeds.
“It is He Who spread out the earth,” meaning that He created it for His servants, made it spacious, blessed it, prepared it for them, and placed within it all that He placed for their welfare. He “placed therein firmly anchored mountains”—that is, immense mountains—so that it would not sway with its inhabitants. Were it not for the mountains, it would sway with those upon it, for it rests over flowing water and would have neither firmness nor stability without the firmly anchored mountains that Allah made as pegs for it.
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He also “placed rivers in it” to provide water for human beings, their livestock, and their fields. Through them He brought forth abundant good in the form of trees, crops, and fruits. Hence He says: “and made therein two kinds of every fruit,” meaning two varieties of the things His servants need.
“He causes the night to cover the day”: the horizons grow dark, every creature retires to its shelter, and they rest from the toil and weariness of the day. Then, when they have satisfied their need for sleep, the day covers the night, and suddenly they are awake and dispersed, pursuing their interests and occupations during the day.
“Out of His mercy He made for you night and day, so that you may rest therein, seek His bounty, and perhaps be grateful.”
“Surely in that are signs” establishing the truths concerning Allah “for people who reflect” upon them and examine them with thoughtful consideration. These signs show that the One Who created, governed, and directed them is Allah, besides Whom there is no deity and none worthy of worship; that He is the Knower of the unseen and the witnessed, the Most Compassionate, the Most Merciful; and that He has power over all things, is wise in all things, and is worthy of praise for all that He has created and commanded. Blessed and Exalted is He.
Among the signs of His perfect power and wondrous craftsmanship is that He placed “on the earth adjoining tracts and gardens” containing various kinds of trees, including “grapevines, crops, and palm trees,” as well as other plants. Some of the palm trees grow “together from one root,” meaning that several trees share a single root, while others are “standing alone,” with each tree growing separately. All of them “are watered with the same water,” and their soil is the same, “yet We make some of them excel others in taste”—in color, flavor, benefit, and delight. One tract is fertile, producing abundant herbage, grass, trees, and crops, while an adjoining tract produces no vegetation and retains no water. Another retains water but produces no herbage; another produces crops and trees but no herbage. One fruit is sweet, another bitter, and another somewhere in between.
Is this diversity inherent in their own essence and nature, or is it the ordination of the Almighty, the Most Merciful?
“Surely in that are signs for people who understand”—that is, people whose minds guide them to what benefits them, lead them to right guidance, and enable them to understand Allah’s injunctions, commands, and prohibitions. As for those who turn away and those who are dull-witted, they wander blindly in their darkness and waver in their error. They find no path to their Lord and comprehend no word from Him.