یُزۡجِیۡ

14:33; 22:66; 45:13.

Commentary:

The verse points out that all amenities of life are God’s gifts bestowed upon man, although they are not always recognized or appreciated by man as such. For example, the use of ships has made interaction possible between the dwellers of the main lands and the islands, who would have remained permanently isolated from each other without them.

There is also in the verse an implied reference to the fact that Islam will spread throughout the world on land and sea and for this purpose sea-going vessels, which are a great Divine blessing, will play a most important part. It is worthy of note that Muslims in the heyday of their glory were great sailors and navigators. The discovery of the sea-route to India was due to the good offices of an Arab sailor who guided some wandering Portuguese ships from the coast of Africa to the shores of India.

30:49.

13:14.

Important Words:

رکاماً (piles up) is derived from رکم. They say رکم الشیء i.e. he heaped up, piled up or accumulated the thing; he collected together the thing and put one part of it upon another. رکام means, clouds or sand collected together and piled up (Lane & Aqrab).

ودق (rain) is derived from the root ودق (wadaqa). They say ودق الیه i.e. he became near to him. ودق السماء means, it rained. ودق السیف means, the sword became sharp. الودق means, rain, violent or gentle (Lane & Aqrab).

سنا (flash) is infinitive noun from سنا (sana). They say سنت النار i.e. the fire became high in its light. سنا البرق means, the lightning shone, shone brightly or gleamed or shot up. سنا means, light, or the light of lightning; or light shining or diffusing itself and rising, a high light; shining of weapons (Lane).

Commentary:

The verse gives another simile about the spiritual development of man and about the changes and processes which it undergoes to reach its perfection. The knowledge of such changes and processes is essential to the spiritual pilgrim because without such knowledge he may not know what turnings and crossroads he may have to meet on the way and consequently may despair of success. The verse purports to say that man’s spiritual development is like the formation of clouds from vapours. It begins in this way. The sun of God’s love and grace shines upon that inexhaustible store of man’s capacity to receive and assimilate the Divine Word with which he has been endowed and then it raises vapours which are moved about by the winds of Divine mercy. Just as in the earlier stages the vapours are not visible, so does the change wrought in the pilgrim’s mind by the Sun of Divine love and grace remain unfelt in the earlier stages of his spiritual development with the result that the impatient spiritual wayfarer sometimes loses patience and gives up the endeavour in despair. The simile points out that like invisible vapours which assume a visible form, the change in man’s moral and spiritual progress under Divine mercy assumes a palpable form and begins to be dimly perceptible. But the character and nature of the change is still in a formative stage, where it has not yet attained fixity and strength enough to be helpful to others. The progress, however, continues till like vapours that condense and take the form of showers of rain and sometimes of hail, the God-intoxicated spiritual wayfarer, who has donned the mantle of a Divine Messenger, becomes بشیر i.e. the Bearer of good news for the believers and نذیر i.e. Warner for those who reject the heavenly messages. Even among the believers his influence is not uniform; some benefit by his precept and practice more than the others according to their natural aptitudes, as are the different parts of earth benefited by rain according to the nature of the soil.

Or the significance of the verse may be that for some the revealed Law serves as timely rain which proves highly beneficial and for others it takes the form of hail and storm which brings in its wake destruction and ruin.