16. An-Nahl

When the idolaters found chastisement slow in coming the following was revealed God’s commandment has come that is the Hour has come this verb atā is in the past tense because it means that the event therein described will come to pass in other words it God’s commandment is close at hand so do not seek to hasten it do not demand it before its due time for it will come to pass without doubt. Glory be to Him — an affirmation of His transcendence — and exalted be He above what they associate with Him in the way of others.

He sends down the angels namely Gabriel with the Spirit with the Revelation of His command by His will to whomever He will of His servants and these are the prophets saying that an is explicative Warn threaten the disbelievers with chastisement and make them aware that there is no God save Me so fear Me fear Me.

He created the heavens and the earth with the Truth that is with the purpose of manifesting truth. Exalted be He above what they associate with Him in the way of idols.

He created man from a drop of fluid of sperm until He makes him strong and tough yet behold! he is disputatious extremely quarrelsome openly making this disputatiousness clear in his rejection of resurrection contending Who shall revive the bones when they are decayed? Q. 3678.

And the cattle camels cows and sheep al-an‘āma ‘cattle’ is in the accusative because of the implied verb governing it as explained by the following words khalaqahā lakum He created them for you you being included among the number of mankind. In them there is warmth that by which you keep warm in the way of clothes and garments taken from their hairs and wools as well as other uses such as their offspring milk and for you to ride and of them you eat the adverbial clause wa-minhā ‘of them’ precedes the verb for the purpose of establishing harmony with the end-rhyme of the Qur’ānic verse;

and for you there is in them beauty adornment when you bring them home to rest when you return them to their resting places in the evening and when you drive them forth to pasture when you bring them out to the grazing pastures in the morning.

And they bear your burdens your baggage to a land which you could not reach without being on camel-back save with great trouble to yourselves save by straining them. Indeed your Lord is Gentle Merciful to you in having created these for you.

And He created horses and mules and asses that you may ride them and for adornment wa-zīnatan is an object denoting reason; the use of both of these reasons ‘to ride’ and ‘for adornment’ as illustrations of God’s graces does not preclude that they may have been created for other purposes such as for consumption in the case of horses — which is established as lawful by a hadīth in both Sahīhs of Bukhārī and Muslim; and He creates what you do not know of marvelous and strange things.

And God’s is the direction of the way that is to point out the straight path and some of them that is the paths are deviant swerving away from straightness. And had He willed to guide you He would have guided you to seek the way all so that you would be rightly guided of your own choice.

He it is Who sends down water from the heaven whence you have drink for you to drink and whence are trees which grow because of this water whereat you let your animals graze.