34:2 Saba (Sheba)

{ يَعْلَمُ مَا يَلِجُ فِي الْأَرْضِ } أي: من مطر, وبذر, وحيوان { وَمَا يَخْرُجُ مِنْهَا } من أنواع النباتات, وأصناف الحيوانات { وَمَا يَنْزِلُ مِنَ السَّمَاءِ } من الأملاك والأرزاق والأقدار { وَمَا يَعْرُجُ فِيهَا } من الملائكة والأرواح وغير ذلك.ولما ذكر مخلوقاته وحكمته فيها, وعلمه بأحوالها, ذكر مغفرته ورحمته لها, فقال: { وَهُوَ الرَّحِيمُ الْغَفُورُ } أي: الذي الرحمة والمغفرة وصفه, ولم تزل آثارهما تنزل على عباده كل وقت بحسب ما قاموا به من مقتضياتهما.

"يعلم ما يلج في الأرض وما يخرج منها" أي يعلم عدد القطر النازل في أجزاء الأرض والحب المبذور والكامن فيها ويعلم ما يخرج من ذلك عدده وكيفيته وصفاته " وما ينزل من السماء " أي من قطر ورزق وما يعرج فيها أي من الأعمال الصالحة وغير ذلك " وهو الرحيم الغفور " أي الرحيم بعباده فلا يعاجل عصاتهم بالعقوبة الغفور عن ذنوب التائبين إليه المتوكلين عليه.

Which was revealed in Makkah

بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَـنِ الرَّحِيمِ

In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.

All Praise and the Knowledge of the Unseen belong to Allah Alone

Allah tells us that all praise belongs to Him alone in this world and in the Hereafter, because He is the Giver and Bestower who gives to the people of this world and the Hereafter, the Sovereign and Controller of all. Allah says:

وَهُوَ اللَّهُ لا إِلَـهَ إِلاَّ هُوَ لَهُ الْحَمْدُ فِى الاٍّولَى وَالاٌّخِرَةِ وَلَهُ الْحُكْمُ وَإِلَيْهِ تُرْجَعُونَ

(And He is Allah; none has the right to be worshipped but He, all praise is due to Him (both) in the first (i.e., in this world) and in the last (the Hereafter). And for Him is the decision, and to Him shall you (all) be returned.) (28:70). Allah says:

الْحَمْدُ للَّهِ الَّذِى لَهُ مَا فِى السَّمَـوَتِ وَمَا فِى الاٌّرْضِ

(All praise is due to Allah, to Whom belongs all that is in the heavens and all that is in the earth.) meaning, all of it is His dominion and is enslaved by Him and subject to His control, as Allah says:

وَإِنَّ لَنَا لَلاٌّخِرَةَ وَالاٍّولَى

(And truly, unto Us (belong) the last (Hereafter) and the first (this world)) (92:13). Then Allah says:

وَلَهُ الْحَمْدُ فِى الاٌّخِرَةِ

(His is all praise in the Hereafter,) for He is the One Who will be worshipped forever and praised for eternity.

وَهُوَ الْحَكِيمُ

and He is the All-Wise, means, in all that He says and does, legislates and decrees.

الْخَبِيرُ

the All-Aware. from Whom nothing at all is hidden or concealed. Ma0lik narrated that Az-Zuhri said, He is All-Aware of His creation, All-Wise in His commands. Allah says:

يَعْلَمُ مَا يَلْجُ فِى الاٌّرْضِ وَمَا يَخْرُجُ مِنْهَا

(He knows that which goes into the earth and that which comes forth from it,) meaning, He knows the number of raindrops that sink into the depths of the earth, and the seeds that have been sown, and the things that are hidden in it, and He knows what comes forth from that, how many they are, how they grow and what they look like.

وَمَا يَنزِلُ مِنَ السَّمَآءِ

(and that which descends from the heaven) means, of raindrops and provision, and what ascends into it, i.e., righteous deeds and other things.

وَهُوَ الرَّحِيمُ الْغَفُورُ

(And He is the Most Merciful, the Oft-Forgiving.) means, He is Most Merciful to His servants; He does not hasten to punish them, and He forgives the sins of those who repent to Him and put their trust in Him.

He knows what penetrates the earth of water and so forth and what issues out of it of vegetation and so on and what comes down from the heaven of provision and so on and what ascends into it of deeds and so on and He is the Merciful to His friends the Forgiving to them.

لِّيُعَذِّبَ اللَّـهُ الْمُنَافِقِينَ وَالْمُنَافِقَاتِ (with the result that Allah will punish the hypocrites, men and women, and the Mushriks, men and women, and will accept the repentance of the believing men and women. Surely Allah is Most-Forgiving, Very-Merciful. [ 73]) The letter 'lam' used in the beginning of this verse is not for mentioning the cause or aim, as generally understood in common usage, but it is the lam of 'aqibah in the terminology of Arabic linguistics. It points out to the end of something, as it appears in a line of Arabic poetry which reads:

لِدُوا لِلمَوتِ وَ ابنُوا لِلخَرَابِ

'Be born only to be dead and build only to be ruined'.

It does not mean that the aim of one's birth was to be dead or that the aim of constructing of a building was that it could be ruined, but it simply means that the end of everyone born is death and the end of every building is falling into ruins.

The sense of the verse is that, as a result of man's assumption of responsibility for the trust, mankind will split in two groups: (1) Disbelievers, hypocrites and others who will rebel against Divine orders and become wasters of the great 'trust'. They will be punished. (2) There will be believing men and believing women who, through their obedience to Divine injunctions, will fulfill the dictates of the trust reposed in them. They will be treated with mercy and forgiveness.

The Tafsir of the two words: Zalum and Jahul that has been reported above from most Tafsir authorities finds additional support in this last sentence as well - that these words are not meant for the whole mankind. In fact, they particularly refer to those individuals who wasted away the Divine trust reposed in them. And Allah, Pure and High, knows best.

The Commentary on

Surah Al-Ahzab ends here

With the help of and praise for Allah Ta’ ala