39:21 Az-Zumar (The Groups)

يذكر تعالى أولي الألباب، ما أنزله من السماء من الماء، وأنه سلكه ينابيع في الأرض، أي: أودعه فيها ينبوعا، يستخرج بسهولة ويسر، { ثُمَّ يُخْرِجُ بِهِ زَرْعًا مُخْتَلِفًا أَلْوَانُهُ } من بر وذرة، وشعير وأرز، وغير ذلك. { ثُمَّ يَهِيجُ } عند استكماله، أو عند حدوث آفة فيه { فَتَرَاهُ مُصْفَرًّا ثُمَّ يَجْعَلُهُ حُطَامًا } متكسرا { إِنَّ فِي ذَلِكَ لَذِكْرَى لِأُولِي الْأَلْبَابِ } يذكرون بها عناية ربهم ورحمته بعباده، حيث يسر لهم هذا الماء، وخزنه بخزائن الأرض تبعا لمصالحهم.ويذكرون به كمال قدرته، وأنه يحيي الموتى، كما أحيا الأرض بعد موتها، ويذكرون به أن الفاعل لذلك هو المستحق للعبادة.اللّهم اجعلنا من أولي الألباب، الذين نوهت بذكرهم، وهديتهم بما أعطيتهم من العقول، وأريتهم من أسرار كتابك وبديع آياتك ما لم يصل إليه غيرهم، إنك أنت الوهاب.

يخبر تعالى أن أصل الماء في الأرض من السماء كما قال عز وجل "وأنزلنا من السماء ماء طهورا" فإذا أنزل الماء من السماء كمن في الأرض ثم يصرفه تعالى في أجزاء الأرض كما يشاء وينبعه عيونا ما بين صغار وكبار بحسب الحاجة إليها ولهذا قال تبارك وتعالى "فسلكه ينابيع في الأرض" قال ابن أبي حاتم حدثنا علي بن الحسين حدثنا عمرو بن علي حدثنا أبو قتيبة عتبة بن اليقظان عن عكرمة عن ابن عباس رضي الله عنهما في قوله تعالى "ألم تر أن الله أنزل من السماء ماء فسلكه ينابيع في الأرض" قال ليس في الأرض ماء إلا نزل من السماء ولكن عروق في ألأرض تغيره فذلك قوله تعالى "فسلكه ينابيع في الأرض" فمن سره أن يعود الملح عذبا فليصعده وكذا. قال سعيد بن جبير وعامر والشعبي أن كل ماء في الأرض فأصله من السماء وقال سعيد بن جبير أصله من الثلج يعني أن الثلج يتراكم على الجبال فيسكن في قرارها فتنبع العيون من أسافلها وقوله تعالى "ثم يخرج به زرعا مختلفا ألوانه" أي ثم يخرج بالماء النازل من السماء والنابع من الأرض زرعا مختلفا ألوانه أي أشكاله وطعومه وروائحه ومنافعه "ثم يهيج" أي بعد نضارته وشبابه يكتهل فتراه مصفرا قد خالطه اليبس "ثم يجعله حطاما" أي ثم يعود يابسا يتحطم "إن في ذلك لذكرى لأولي الألباب" أي الذين يتذكرون بهذا فيعتبرون إلى أن الدنيا هكذا تكون خضرة نضرة حسناء ثم تعود عجوزا شوهاء والشاب يعود شيخا هرما كبيرا ضعيفا وبعد ذلك كله الموت فالسعيد من كان حاله بعده إلى خير وكثيرا ما يضرب الله تعالى مثل الحياة الدنيا بما ينزل الله من السماء من ماء وينبت به زروعا وثمارا ثم يكون بعد ذلك حطاما كما قال تعالى "واضرب لهم مثل الحياة الدنيا كماء أنزلناه من السماء فاختلط به نبات الأرض فأصبح هشيما تذروه الرياح وكان الله على كل شيء مقتدرا".

The Parable of the Life of this World

Allah tells us that water originates in the sky. This is like the Ayah:

وَأَنزَلْنَا مِنَ السَّمَآءِ مَآءً طَهُوراً

(and We send down pure water from the sky) (25:48). So, Allah sends down water from the sky, and it settles in the earth, then He causes it to flow wherever He wills, and He causes springs, great and small, to flow as needed. Allah says:

فَسَلَكَهُ يَنَابِيعَ فِى الاٌّرْضِ

(and causes it to penetrate the earth, as water springs,) Sa`id bin Jubayr and `Amir Ash-Sha`bi said that all the water on earth has its origins in the sky. Sa`id bin Jubayr said, its origins lie in the snow, meaning that snow piles up in the mountains, then settles at the bottom (of the mountains) and springs flow from the bottom of them.

ثُمَّ يُخْرِجُ بِهِ زَرْعاً مُّخْتَلِفاً أَلْوَانُهُ

(and afterward thereby produces crops of different colors) means, then from the water which comes down from the sky or flows from springs in the earth, He brings forth crops of different colors, i.e., different kinds of forms, tastes, scents, bencfits, etc.

ثُمَّ يَهِـيجُ

(and afterward they wither) means, after they have been ripe and fresh, they become old and you see them turn yellow when they have dried out.

ثُمَّ يَجْعَلُهُ حُطَـماً

(then He makes them dry and broken pieces.) means, then they become brittle.

إِنَّ فِى ذَلِكَ لَذِكْرَى لاٌّوْلِى الاٌّلْبَـبِ

(Verily, in this is a reminder for men of understanding.) means, those who are reminded by this and who learn the lesson from it, that this world is like this -- it is green and fresh and beautiful, then it will become old and ugly. The young man will become a weak, senile old man, and after all of that comes death. The blessed one is the one whose state after death will be good. Allah often likens the life of this world to the way He sends down water from the sky and crops and fruits grow thereby, then they become dry and brittle. This is like the Ayah:

وَاضْرِبْ لَهُم مَّثَلَ الْحَيَوةِ الدُّنْيَا كَمَآءٍ أَنْزَلْنَـهُ مِنَ السَّمَاءِ فَاخْتَلَطَ بِهِ نَبَاتُ الاٌّرْضِ فَأَصْبَحَ هَشِيمًا تَذْرُوهُ الرِّياحُ وَكَانَ اللَّهُ عَلَى كُلِّ شَىْءٍ مُّقْتَدِرًا

(And put forward to them the example of the life of this world: it is like the water (rain) which We send down from the sky, and the vegetation of the earth mingles with it, and becomes fresh and green. But (later) it becomes dry and broken pieces, which the winds scatter. And Allah is able to do everything) (18:45)

The People of Truth and the People of Misguidance are not Equal

أَفَمَن شَرَحَ اللَّهُ صَدْرَهُ لِلإِسْلَـمِ فَهُوَ عَلَى نُورٍ مِّن رَّبِّهِ

(Is he whose breast Allah has opened to Islam, so that he is in light from his Lord) means, is this person equal to the one who is hard-hearted and far from the truth This is like the Ayah:

أَوَمَن كَانَ مَيْتًا فَأَحْيَيْنَـهُ وَجَعَلْنَا لَهُ نُورًا يَمْشِي بِهِ فِى النَّاسِ كَمَن مَّثَلُهُ فِي الظُّلُمَـتِ لَيْسَ بِخَارِجٍ مِّنْهَا كَذَلِكَ

(Is he who was dead and We gave him life and set for him a light (i.e. Belief) whereby he can walk amongst men -- like him who is in the darkness (i.e., disbelief) from which he can never come out) (6:122) Allah says:

فَوَيْلٌ لِّلْقَـسِيَةِ قُلُوبُهُمْ مِّن ذِكْرِ اللَّهِ

(So, woe to those whose hearts are hardened against remembrance of Allah!) meaning, they do not become soft when Allah is mentioned, and they do not feel humility or fear, and they do not understand.

أُوْلَـئِكَ فِى ضَلَـلٍ مُّبِينٍ

(They are in plain error!).

Have you not seen realised that God sends down water from the heaven then conducts it as springs making it enter points of springs in the ground? Then with it He brings forth crops of diverse hues. Then they wither they become dried-out and you see them for example after having been green turning yellow. Then He turns them into chaff. Truly in that there is a reminder for people of pith possessors of intellect by which they may be reminded for it is an indication of God’s Oneness and His power.

Commentary

The word: يَنَابِيعَ (yanabi in verse 21: فَسَلَكَهُ يَنَابِيعَ فِي الْأَرْ‌ضِ (made it penetrate into the earth [ and gush forth ] in the form of springs) is the plural form of: یَنبُوع (yanbu) which means springs that gush out from the soil. The sense is that the act of sending down water from the sky is by itself a great blessing, but also crucial was the arrangement to conserve it underground. But for this arrangement to save this blessing of water, its users would have derived benefit from it only at the time of rains, or for a few days following it. Although, on water depends their life, and it is the kind of need one cannot stay free from, even for a day. Therefore, Allah Ta’ ala did not consider it sufficient to just send down this blessing, instead, made elaborate and very unique arrangements for its conservation. Some of it gets deposited in ditches, ponds, tanks and reservoirs. Then a huge supply is turned into ice and made to sit on mountain peaks and its ridges, an arrangement that takes care of the danger of water going bad. Then ice melts and water travels through veins in the mountains until it reaches the land and gushes out in the form of streams, all over, on its own, without any human input, and finally finds its way through the land in the form of rivulets and rivers. Rest of the water keeps flowing underground which can be retrieved by digging a well almost anywhere.

Details of this water supply system as they appear in the noble Qur'an have been given in the commentary of Surah Al-Mu'minan under the verse: (then We lodged it in the earth, and of course, We are able to take it away - Al-Mu'minun, 23:18). (Please see Ma ariful-Qur’ an, Volume VI, under 23:18, pages 311 to 313).

Later in verse 21, it was said: مُّخْتَلِفًا أَلْوَانُهُ (the crops of different colours). At the time the crops grow and ripen, colors keep changing from one to the other. Since these colors change, therefore, the word: مُّخْتَلِفًا (mukhtalifan), in terms of its grammatical analysis, has been used in the form of: حَال (ha state, circumstantial condition) which denotes change.

In the last sentence of verse 21, it was said: إِنَّ فِي ذَٰلِكَ لَذِكْرَ‌ىٰ لِأُولِي الْأَلْبَابِ (Surely, in that, there is a lesson for the people of understanding), that is, in this process - when water is sent down, is conserved, is made available to human beings to grow all sorts of crops and trees the colors of which change following which they turn yellow and dry making grains separate from chaff - there is a great lesson for people of understanding, because they provide the proof of the infinite power and wisdom of Allah Ta’ ala. These are visible signs that could lead human beings to discover the reality behind their own creation, and that in turn, could become the means through which one succeeds in recognizing his or her own creator and master.