16:17 An-Nahl (The Bee)

لما ذكر تعالى ما خلقه من المخلوقات العظيمة، وما أنعم به من النعم العميمة ذكر أنه لا يشبهه أحد ولا كفء له ولا ند له فقال: { أَفَمَنْ يَخْلُقُ } جميع المخلوقات وهو الفعال لما يريد { كَمَنْ لَا يَخْلُقُ } شيئا لا قليلا ولا كثيرا، { أَفَلَا تَذَكَّرُونَ } فتعرفون أن المنفرد بالخلق أحق بالعبادة كلها، فكما أنه واحد في خلقه وتدبيره فإنه واحد في إلهيته وتوحيده وعبادته.

ثم نبه تعالى على عظمته وأنه لا تنبغي العبادة إلا له دون ما سواه من الأوثان التي لا تخلق شيئا بل هم يخلقون ولهذا قال "أفمن يخلق كمن لا يخلق أفلا تذكرون".

Signs in the Oceans, Mountains, Rivers, Roads and Stars

Allah tells us how He has subjected the seas, with their waves lapping the shores, and how He blesses His servants by subjecting the seas for them so that they may travel on them, and by putting fish and whales in them, by making their flesh permissible to eat - whether they are caught alive or dead - at all times, including when people are in a state of Ihram. He has created pearls and precious jewels in the oceans, and made it easy for His servants to recover ornaments that they can wear from the ocean floor. He made the sea such that it carries the ships which plow through it. He is the One Who taught mankind to make ships, which is the inheritance of their forefather Nuh. He was the first one to travel by ship, he was taught how to make them, then people took this knowledge from him and passed it down from generation to generation through the centuries, so that they could travel from country to country and from place to place, bringing goods from here to there and from there to here. Thus Allah says:

وَلِتَبْتَغُواْ مِن فَضْلِهِ وَلَعَلَّكُمْ تَشْكُرُونَ

(that you may seek from His bounty and that you may perhaps be grateful.) - for His bounty and blessings. Then Allah mentions the earth and how He placed in it mountains standing firm, which make it stable and keep it from shaking in such a manner that the creatures dwelling on it would not be able to live. Hence Allah says,

وَالْجِبَالَ أَرْسَـهَا

(And the mountains He has fixed firmly.) (79: 32).

وَأَنْهَـراً وَسُبُلاً

(and rivers and roads) meaning He has made rivers which flow from one place to another, bringing provision for His servants. The rivers arise in one place, and bring provision to people living in another place. They flow through lands and fields and wildernesses, through mountains and hills, until they reach the land whose people they are meant to benefit. They meander across the land, left and right, north and south, east and west - rivers great and small - flowing sometimes and ceasing sometimes, flowing from their sources to the places where the water gathers, flowing rapidly or moving slowly, as decreed by Allah. There is no god besides Him and no Lord except Him. He also made roads or routes along which people travel from one land or city to another, and He even made gaps in the mountains so that there would be routes between them, as He says:

وَجَعَلْنَا فِيهَا فِجَاجاً سُبُلاً

(And We placed broad highways for them to pass through.) 21:31

وَعَلامَـتٍ

(And landmarks) meaning, signs like great mountains and small hills, and so on, things that land and sea travelers use to find their way if they get lost.

وَبِالنَّجْمِ هُمْ يَهْتَدُونَ

(and by the stars (during the night), they (mankind) guide themselves.) meaning, in the darkness of the night. This was the opinion of Ibn `Abbas.

Worship is Allah's Right

Then Allah tells us of His greatness, and that worship should be directed to Him alone, not to any of the idols which do not create but are rather themselves created. Thus He says

أَفَمَن يَخْلُقُ كَمَن لاَّ يَخْلُقُ أَفَلا تَذَكَّرُونَ

(Is then He, Who creates, the same as one who does not create Will you not then reflect)(16:17). Then He shows His servants some of the many blessings He granted for them, and the many kinds of things that He has done for them. He says;

وَإِن تَعُدُّواْ نِعْمَةَ اللَّهِ لاَ تُحْصُوهَآ إِنَّ اللَّهَ لَغَفُورٌ رَّحِيمٌ

(And if you would try to count the favors of Allah, you would never be able to count them. Truly, Allah is Forgiving, Most Merciful.) (16:18) meaning that He pardons and forgives them. If He were to ask you to thank Him for all of His blessings, you would not be able to do so, and if He were to command you to do so, you would be incapable of it. If He punishes you, He is never unjust in His punishment, but He is Forgiving and Most Merciful, He forgives much and rewards for little. Ibn Jarir said: "It means that Allah is Forgiving when you fail to thank Him properly, if you repent and turn to Him in obedience, and strive to do that which pleases Him. He is Merciful to you and does not punish you if you turn to Him and repent."

Is He then Who creates — namely God — as he who does not create namely idols so that you associate them with Him in worship? No. Will you not then remember this and so become believers?

Commentary

Verses appearing immediately earlier described the many blessings of Allah Ta` ala in details, proved that He alone is their Creator and established that He is unique in this matter. Now, in the present verses, there comes an admonition against the failure of people to recognize that there is a fact behind the statement describing all these blessings - and that is Tauhid, the Oneness of Allah Ta’ ala, except whom there is none worthy of worship. Therefore, it was said: When it stands proved that Allah alone made the heavens and the earth, made the mountains and rivers, vegetation and animals, trees and plants with their fruits and flowers, how can that most sacred Being that is the Creator of all these things become, for no reason, like idols and icons which cannot create anything? Why would you not understand something so elementary?

Is He who creates like him who does not create? Will the created thing ever be like the Creator? Will the enacted thing ever be similar to the Enac- tor? In the seven heavens and seven earths, it is God who is one and unique. In Essence He is without similar, in measure without equal, in attributes without peer. Fancying that the Creator is like the created is an error, and the road of declaring similarity is disloyalty. But affirming at- tributes is not declaring similarity, and to declare holy by negating attributes is nothing but the position of Iblis. Declaring similarity does not come by way of saying that there is, but rather by saying that there is similarity. Whoever declares similarity is an unbeliever, just as whoever says that there is no similarity is an unbeliever. Whenever someone says that God is like himself has said that God has more than a thousand associates. Whoever declares God's attributes ineffectual has abased himself in the two worlds.