Al-Hajj (The Pilgrimage)

65. “Have you not seen that Allah has made subservient to you whatever is in the earth and the ships running in the sea by His command, and He withholds the heaven from falling on the earth, save with His permission? Verily, Allah is, for mankind, Full of Pity, Merciful.”

66. “And He it is Who gave you life, then He will cause you to die, and then will give you life (again). Verily man is ungrateful.”

The study of divine creation produces both faith and love in the believers.

The subservience of the world of existence is in authority of Allah

(“…Allah has made subservient to you…”).

In this holy verse again the Qur’an has pointed to another example of this infinite Power concerning the subservience of the beings for humankind.

It says:

“Have you not seen that Allah has made subservient to you whatever is in the earth…”

He has let all the merits and potentialities of the world at your disposal in order that you utilize them in what manner you wish. Then the verse continues implying that He also made the ships subservient to you while they run in the seas, going forth on the water towards different destinations by the command of Allah.

The verse says:

“…and the ships running in the sea by His command…”

Besides that, He withholds the heavens in their positions not to fall on the earth save with His command.

From one side, He has caused that each of the celestial bodies rotates in its orb, and has adjusted the repelling force resulted from the ‘centrifugal force’ just equal to the gravity force therein, so that each of them moves in its orbit without that there happens any change in their proper distances or there occurs any crash between those globes.

On the other side, He has created the atmosphere of the each in such a way that it does not let the wandering aerolites hit the earth and cause some troubles and destructions for its habitants.

The verse continues saying:

“…and He withholds the heaven from falling on the earth, save with His permission?…”

Yes, it is His Grace, Mercy and Kindness towards the servants that have caused such a safe and secure cradle to be prepared for the humankind to live on it easily, calmly and comfortably without any danger. He has created the earth in a manner that neither any aerolite falls on it nor does any other globe crash it.

Therefore, at the end of the verse, it says:

“…Verily, Allah is, for mankind, Full of Pity, Merciful.”

Finally, in the next verse, the Qur’an, after speaking about the Power of Allah, refers to the most important matter of the world of existence, i.e., the subject of life, where it implies that you were a lifeless dust when He covered you with the clothes of life, then after passing the course of life He causes you to die and He retunes you to the same dust from which you came into being.

It says:

“And He it is Who gave you life, then He will cause you to die…”

And again, in the Resurrection, He will give you a new life and you will come out from the dead soil and will attend the court of Reckoning and retribution.

The holy verse continues saying:

“…and then will give you life (again).…”

Yet, this man is ungrateful in spite of these plenty of blessings that Allah has given him, both for his soul and his body, in the earth and the heaven, and he rejects His Pure Essence while he manifestly sees all these clear signs.

The verse concludes:

“…Verily man is ungrateful.”

Some Points

The First Point: In these recent verses, there have been regularly mentioned fourteen parts of Allah’s Attributes, (at the end of each verse two attributes), as follows:

“All-Knowing, Most Forbearing”, “Pardoning, Forgiving”, “All-Hearing, All-Seeing”, “The High, The Great”, “All-Subtle, All-Aware”, “The Self-Sufficient, the Praised”, “Full of Pity, Merciful”.

Every part of these divine attributes agrees with and is complementary of each other in every couple. For example, Allah’s forgiveness is complementary of His Pardoning, All-Hearing is complementary of All-Seeing, His being High agrees with His Greatness, His being All-Subtle adapts with His being All-Aware, His being the Self-Sufficient with His being Praised and, finally, His being Full of Pity with His being Merciful.

All of these attributes are in agreement and, in the meanwhile, they are just appropriate with the same subject which is stated in the concerning holy verse. Since we have explained them following each verse, their repetition is not necessary here.

The Second Point: The verses under discussion were both as an evidence for the Power of Allah and an emphasis on the promises of Divine help upon the believers and as a sign for the rightfulness of His Pure Essence, which have been referred to in the former verses.

They are also counted as a reasoning for Monotheism and as a reasoning for Resurrection, because the phenomena of the dead lands being quickened by having green plants and by means of rain, and also the life and the death of the first human being are some witnesses for the fact that He is capable to restore man again to life and this meaning has been taken in many verses of the noble Qur’an as a reasoning to the existence of Resurrection, too.

However, regarding that the Qur’anic word /kafur/, in Arabic, grammatically is a form of the word with the exaggeration meaning, the Qur’anic sentence:

“…Verily man is ungrateful”

points to the obstinate persons who, even with observing these signs of the grandeur of Allah, they pave the way of denyance. Or it points to the ungratefulness of such persons, those whose selves are surrounded by His blessings and yet neither do they try to thank Him nor recognize Him.

The Third Point: The subservience of the beings of the earth and the heaven:

As it has been pointed out, making these things subservient for man is from this viewpoint that Allah has assigned them as the servants of man so that they are along the way of the benefit of him.

Among all the benefits of the earth, the movement of the ships on the seas and oceans is particularly mentioned here, it is for the reason that these ships have been the most important means of communication and transportation for passengers and goods from one place to another place, so that no other vehicle could have succeeded to occupy the place of ships in this regard.

Admittedly if one day all ships stop moving on the seas and oceans, the life of men will be entirely disturbed, because the roads on land have not the potentiality of transportation of so much oil, as well as other loads, from one point to another.

Thus, the importance of ships, this divine blessing, becomes more manifest when we see more than ten thousand lorries cannot carry the oil that even one huge ship can sometimes carry; and transition of oil by the pipelines is also possible for only some limited places of the world.