16:50 An-Nahl (The Bee)

{ يَخَافُونَ رَبَّهُمْ مِنْ فَوْقِهِمْ ْ} لما مدحهم بكثرة الطاعة والخضوع لله، مدحهم بالخوف من الله الذي هو فوقهم بالذات والقهر، وكمال الأوصاف، فهم أذلاء تحت قهره. { وَيَفْعَلُونَ مَا يُؤْمَرُونَ ْ} أي: مهما أمرهم الله تعالى امتثلوا لأمره، طوعا واختيارا، وسجود المخلوقات لله تعالى قسمان: سجود اضطرار ودلالة على ما له من صفات الكمال، وهذا عام لكل مخلوق من مؤمن وكافر وبر وفاجر وحيوان ناطق وغيره، وسجود اختيار يختص بأوليائه وعباده المؤمنين من الملائكة وغيرهم [من المخلوقات].

"يخافون ربهم من فوقهم" أي يسجدون خائفين وجلين من الرب جل جلاله "ويفعلون ما يؤمرون" أي مثابرين على طاعته تعالى وامتثال أوامره وترك زواجره.

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.

They that is the angels fear yakhāfūna is a circumstantial qualifier referring to the person governing the verb yastakbirūna ‘they are not arrogant’ their Lord from above them min fawqihim is a circumstantial qualifier referring to the suffixed pronoun -hum of fawqihim in other words they fear their Lord being High above them with the power to subjugate and they do what they are commanded to do.

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).