The Holy Quran with Five Volume Commentary (Vol 4) — Page 890
CH. 41 ḤĀ MĪM AS-SAJDAH PT. 24 heaven while it was like smoke, ثُمَّ اسْتَوَى إِلَى السَّمَاءِ وَهِيَ دُخَانُ Then He turned to the. 12 فَقَالَ لَهَا وَلِلْاَرْضِ اثْتِيَا طَوْعًا :and said to it and to the earth اَوْ كَرْهًا قَالَتَا أَتَيْنَا طَابِعِيْنَ 'Come ye both of you in obedience, willingly or unwill- ingly. ' They said, 'We come willingly in obedience. '3564 in the number "four days" mentioned in the present verse; the additional "two days" signifying the two stages of the placing on it of mountains, rivers, etc. and the growth on it of vegetable and animal life. See also verse 13 below. The words, "provided its foods in proper measure," signify that the earth is fully capable of providing food for all the creatures that live on it. The expression "alike for all seekers" may signify that the foods which God has provided in the earth are equally accessible to all seekers who try to get them according to the laws of nature. It may mean also that all the physical needs and requirements of man have been adequately met in the foods that grow out of earth. So the fear that the earth may not someday be able to grow sufficient food for the fast increasing population of the world is groundless. The world can provide food, fibre and all other agricultural requirements for 28 billion people, ten times the world's present population (Professor Cohn Clark, Director of the Agriculture Economics Research Institute of Oxford University). Only recently the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organisation pointed out in its report, "The State of Food and Agriculture, 1959," that the world's food supply grows twice as fast as its population. 3564. Important Words: o (smoke) is infinitive-noun from ie the fire sent. دخنت النار They say. دخن up smoke. means, smoke or gaseous matter; evil or mischief, dearth, drought, sterility; hunger (Lane & Aqrab). 2804 (unwillingly) is derived from 5. They say 85 (kariha) i. e. he did not desire, disapproved, disliked, hated or loathed the thing. asst means, he compelled him to do the thing against his will. (kurhan and karhan) in both forms is infinitive- هه noun from 5, the former 65 i. e. (kurhan) meaning, what you yourself do not like and the latter (karhan) meaning, what you are compelled to do against your will by someone else. a (karhan) means, he did it unwillingly (Lane & Aqrab). See also 2:217. Commentary: The verse signifies that everything in the universe is subject to certain laws which it obeys and according to which it works. It has no discretion. It is man alone who has been endowed with volition or discretion to obey or defy the Divine laws and it is not