Adh-Dhaariyat (The Winnowing Winds)

20. And on the earth are signs for those who have faith with certitude.

21. And also in [the creation of] your ownselves [are Signs of Divine Omnipotence, Grandeur, and Wisdom]. Will you not then see [with your inward sight]?

22. And in the heaven is [the preordainment of] your provision, and that which you are promised.

23. Then by the Lord of the heaven and the earth, it [the Word of Ours] is the Truth, just as it is the truth that you can speak [in which you entertain no doubt, likewise entertain no doubt concerning Our Words].

According to the Holy Qur’an preparedness of heart is the prerequisite for finding Guidance and attaining to certitude through Signs of nature, the Book, and the Islamic faith;

(“And on the earth are signs for those who have faith with certitude”).

Many a secret lie behind the creation of the earth and that of mankind, including the mass, area, and depth of the earth, mountains and valleys, its distance from the sun and other planets, different motions of the earth, visible and invisible mines, vegetation, water reservoirs, colors, stones, soils, fruits, plants, refinement of the earth and its providing food and other provisions for its inhabitants all of which reflect the Signs of Divine Omnipotence and Wisdom to those seeking certitude.

Different states of the body, from conception onward serve as manifestations of Divine Omnipotence and man’s different instincts reflect the signs of His Omniscience and Wisdom as to man’s needs. The harmony between physical senses and their lack of consistency with each other, skeleton, nervous, respiratory, and digestion system well as sight, hearing, and defense mechanism are all signs of Divine Omnipotence.

Imam ‘Ali (as) says:

“God Almighty created you with hearing and sight; you become happy, angry, hungry, and thirsty.”1

The certain (mawqinin) are those who have attained the knowledge of certitude (‘ilm al-yaqin) through intellectual and narrational arguments and look at the earth in order to increase their certitude and knowledge so that they may perceive the Signs of Divine Attributes of Glory and Beauty.

They are attentive at all times to find Signs of Divine Mercy in all things so that through attentiveness and reflection they may attain to such state thereby they may perceive things as representatives of Divine Attributes and reach from knowledge of certitude to certitude by sight (‘ayn al-yaqin).

It is then that they see with their inward eye what is attributed to the Commander of the Faithful, Imam ‘Ali (as) as saying:

“His Signs are to be seen in all things, reflecting that He is One”;

Thus, they may perceive Divine Infinite Mercy in all creatures.

The blessed Verse 21 is addressed to all mankind.

The hamza (the glottal stop) in a-fa-la (“why not”) is an interrogative particle connoting censure for those who fail to perceive the Signs of Divine Omnipotence in themselves, nor do they see that whatever exists in macrocosm is an instance existing in human existence, since man is the only creature in him exist all the world of existence and the treasure of Divine Secrets; he is the only representative of Divine Attributes who at times soars in the infinite realm of the world of contingent being through the faculty of his spiritual soul and he is at times attracted by nature and plunges into the depth of the mire of materiality.

Despite his Divine vicegerency, he has blinded his inward eye and fails to perceive the Signs of the Divine in order to know Him.

Acquisition of the knowledge of the origin and Resurrection is dependent upon knowing one’s self. First of all, one is supposed to know one’s self in one’s own being as one is the Sign of the Existence of God Almighty so that one may acquire knowledge of the origin and Resurrection of one’s self as it is reflected in a generally transmitted and accepted (mashhur) tradition narrated from the Noble Prophet of Islam (S):

“One who knows his own self and truth, he has known his Lord.”

It is worthy of note that knowing one’s self is not solely dependent upon acquisition of knowledge concerning one’s body, natural faculties, and genealogy, but one who knows his own self through acquiring knowledge as to his createdness and knowing that he is the manifestation of Divine Existence and Attributes, he may know God Almighty within the limited capacity of his knowledge and existence.

It is narrated from the master of mystics, Imam ‘Ali (as), saying:

“Do you imagine that you are but a minute mass? But, macrocosm is encompassed in you.”

The blessed Verse 22 is saying that your provision and what is promised to you are in the heaven descending upon the earth through rain, snow, and sunlight thereby vegetation grows on which you feed. What is promised to you has been sent down as Divine Signs.

The word:

‘heaven’ (sama’)

may refer to the celestial realm, namely the world of preordainment and the Preserved Tablet (lawh mahfud) including provision (rizq) preordained for man from the beginning of creation embracing physical and spiritual Bounties and also what is promised to the God fearing from Bounties in Paradise to the exalted states in the Hereafter through Divinely appointed Messengers.

Although the former meaning of provision, namely what constitutes man’s sustenance and/or natural requirements, occurs to mind at the first glance, but taking into account the clause

“and what is promised”

with the conjunct ‘and’ and the following blessed Verse:

“Then by the Lord of the heaven and the earth, it [the Word of Ours] is the Truth, just as it is the truth that you can speak,”

it becomes evident that the general meaning is intended, since the antecedent of ‘it’ are seemingly the preceding blessed Verses in which oaths were taken as to the Lord, Distributor, and Organizer of the heaven and the earth. Such attributes were enumerated as belonging to the God fearing for whom states were specified.

It was also mentioned that man’s preordained provision and what is promised to them from worldly to otherworldly Bounties are certainly true, like your words of which you are certain. It is worthy of note that it would be unbefitting to swear by the provision prepared for man through rain, snow, and sunlight and thereby attempt to substantiate what is evident by such emphatic oaths.