Surah Al Anbiya Tafseer

The Signs of Allah in the Heavens and the Earth and in the Night and the Day

Here Allah tells of His perfect might and power in His creation and subjugation of all things.

أَوَلَمْ يَرَ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا

Have not those who disbelieve known,

means, those who deny His Divine nature and worship others instead of Him, do they not realize that Allah is the One Who is Independent in His powers of creation and is running the affairs of all things with absolute power. So how can it be appropriate to worship anything else beside Him or to associate others in worship with Him!

أَنَّ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالاَْرْضَ كَانَتَا رَتْقًا فَفَتَقْنَاهُمَا

known that the heavens and the earth were joined together as one united piece, then We parted them!

Do they not see that the heavens and the earth were joined together, i.e. in the beginning they were all one piece, attached to one another and piled up on top of one another, then He separated them from one another, and made the heavens seven and the earth seven, placing the air between the earth and the lowest heaven. Then He caused rain to fall from the sky and vegetation to grow from the earth.

He says:

وَجَعَلْنَا مِنَ الْمَاء كُلَّ شَيْءٍ حَيٍّ أَفَلَ يُوْمِنُونَ

And We have made from water every living thing. Will they not then believe!

meaning, they see with their own eyes how creation develops step by step. All of that is proof of the existence of the Creator Who is in control of all things and is able to do whatever He wills.

In everything there is a Sign of Him, showing that He is One

Sufyan Ath-Thawri narrated from his father from Ikrimah that Ibn Abbas was asked;

"Did the night come first or the day?"

He said,

"Do you think that when the heavens and the earth were joined together, there was anything between them except darkness! Thus you may know that the night came before the day.

Ibn Abi Hatim recorded that Ibn Umar said that;

a man came to him and questioned him about when the heavens and earth were joined together then they were parted.

He said, "Go to that old man (Sheikh) and ask him, then come and tell me what he says to you."

So he went to Ibn Abbas and asked him. Ibn Abbas said:

"Yes, the heavens were joined together and it did not rain, and the earth was joined together and nothing grew. When living beings were created to populate the earth, rain came forth from the heavens and vegetation came forth from the earth."

The man went back to Ibn Umar and told him what had been said.

Ibn Umar said, "Now I know that Ibn Abbas has been given knowledge of the Qur'an. He has spoken the truth, and this is how it was."

Ibn Umar said:"I did not like the daring attitude of Ibn Abbas in his Tafsir of the Qur'an, but now I know that he has been given knowledge of the Qur'an."

Sa`id bin Jubayr said:

"The heavens and the earth were attached to one another, then when the heavens were raised up, the earth became separate from them, and this is their parting which was mentioned by Allah in His Book."

Al-Hasan and Qatadah said,

"They were joined together, then they were separated by this air."

وَجَعَلْنَا مِنَ الْمَاء كُلَّ شَيْءٍ حَيٍّ

..

And We have made from water every living thing.

meaning, the origin of every living thing is in water.

Imam Ahmad recorded that Abu Hurayrah said,

"I said:O Messenger of Allah, when I see you I feel happy and content, tell me about everything."

He said,

كُلُّ شَيْءٍ خُلِقَ مِنْ مَاء

"Everything was created from water."

I said, tell me about something which, if I do it, I will enter Paradise."

He said:

أَفْشِ السَّلَمَ

وَأَطْعِمِ الطَّعَامَ

وَصِلِ الاَْرْحَامَ

وَقُمْ بِاللَّيْلِ وَالنَّاسُ نِيَامٌ

ثُمَّ ادْخُلِ الْجَنَّةَ بِسَلَم

Spread (the greeting of) Salam,

feed others,

uphold the ties of kinship, and

stand in prayer at night when people are sleeping.

Then you will enter Paradise in peace.

This chain of narration fulfills the conditions of the Two Sahihs, apart from Abu Maymunah, who is one of the men of the Sunans, his first name was Salim; and At-Tirmidhi classed him as Sahih.