16:48 An-Nahl (The Bee)

يقول تعالى: { أَوَلَمْ يَرَوْا ْ} أي: الشاكون في توحيد ربهم وعظمته وكماله، { إِلَى مَا خَلَقَ اللَّهُ مِنْ شَيْءٍ ْ} أي: إلى جميع مخلوقاته وكيف تتفيأ أظلتها، { عَن الْيَمِينِ ْ} وعن { الشَّمَائِلِ سُجَّدًا لِلَّهِ ْ} أي: كلها ساجدة لربها خاضعة لعظمته وجلاله، { وَهُمْ دَاخِرُونَ ْ} أي: ذليلون تحت التسخير والتدبير والقهر، ما منهم أحد إلا وناصيته بيد الله وتدبيره عنده.

يخبر تعالى عن عظمته وجلاله وكبريائه الذي خضع له كل شيء ودانت له الأشياء والمخلوقات بأسرها جماداتها وحيواناتها ومكلفوها من الإنس والجن والملائكة فأخبر أن كل ما له ظل يتفيأ ذات اليمين وذات الشمال أي بكرة وعشيا فإنه ساجد بظله لله تعالى. قال مجاهد إذا زالت الشمس سجد كل شيء لله عز وجل وكذا قال قتادة والضحاك وغيرهم وقوله "وهم داخرون" أي صاغرون وقال مجاهد أيضا سجود كل شيء فيؤه وذكر الجبال قال سجودها فيؤها وقال أبو غالب الشيباني أمواج البحر صلاته ونزلهم منزلة من يعقل إذ أسند السجود إليهم.

Everything prostrates to Allah

Allah informs us about His might, majesty and pride, meaning that all things submit themselves to Him and every created being - animate and inanimate, as well as the responsible - humans and Jinns, and the angels - all humble themselves before Him. He tells us that everything that has a shadow leaning to the right and the left, i.e., in the morning and the evening, is by its shadow, prostrating to Allah. Mujahid said, "When the sun passes its zenith, everything prostrates to Allah, may He be glorified." This was also said by Qatadah, Ad-Dahhak and others.

لِلَّهِ وَهُمْ

(while they are humble) means, they are in a state of humility. Mujahid also said: "The prostration of every thing is its shadow", and he mentioned the mountains and said that their prostrations are their shadows. Abu Ghalib Ash-Shaybani said: "The waves of the sea are its prayers". It is as if reason is attributed to these inanimate objects when they are described as prostrating, so Allah says:

وَلِلَّهِ يَسْجُدُ مَا فِى السَّمَـوَتِ وَمَا فِى الاٌّرْضِ مِن دَآبَّةٍ

(And to Allah prostrate all that are in the heavens and all that are in the earth, of the moving creatures) As Allah says:

وَللَّهِ يَسْجُدُ مَن فِى السَّمَـوَتِ وَالاٌّرْضِ طَوْعًا وَكَرْهًا وَظِلَـلُهُم بِالْغُدُوِّ وَالاٌّصَالِ

(And to Allah (alone) all who are in the heavens and the earth fall in prostration, willingly or unwillingly, and so do their shadows in the mornings and in the afternoons.) (13:15)

وَالْمَلَـئِكَةُ وَهُمْ لاَ يَسْتَكْبِرُونَ

(and the angels, and they are not proud.) means, they prostrate to Allah and are not too proud to worship Him.

يَخَـفُونَ رَبَّهُمْ مِّن فَوْقِهِمْ

(They fear their Lord above them) means, they prostrate out of fear of their Lord, may He be glorified.

وَيَفْعَلُونَ مَا يُؤْمَرُونَ

(and they do what they are commanded.) meaning they continually obey Allah, doing what He tells them to do and avoiding that which He forbids.

Or have they not observed the things which God has created which cast a shadow such as trees or a mountain how their shadows incline to the right and to the left shamā’il is the plural of shimāl in other words towards both sides at the beginning of the day and at its end prostrating to God sujjadan is a circumstantial qualifier that is to say subservient to Him with respect to what is required of them and how they the shadows are subject? humbled they the shadows are likened to rational beings in this description.

Even the Punishment of the World is Mercy in Disguise

In the verses cited above, after having mentioned various punishments which could seize disbelievers within this world, it was said in the end: فَإِنَّ رَ‌بَّكُمْ لَرَ‌ءُوفٌ رَّ‌حِيمٌ (So, indeed your Lord is Very Kind Very Merciful).

First of all, by using the word: رَبّ (Rabb: Lord) here, the hint given is that all these punishments which overtake human beings in this world are there to warn them as part of the dictates of Divine mercy. After that, by introducing the word: رَ‌ءُوفٌ(Ra uf: Kind) headed by the intensifying particle lam) that is, the lam of ta'kid), and thus by placing stress on the fact that Allah Ta’ ala was Very Kind and Very Merciful, the hint given was that warnings sent during the life of the world were, in reality, called for by His intrinsic Kindness and Mercy so that heedless men and women would learn from the warning and correct their deeds (before comes 'the last spasm of mass extinction' they themselves are talking about at the closing of the twentieth century, but are still not ready to learn, believe and correct).