Saba (Sheba)

24. “Say: ‘Who gives you sustenance from the heavens and the earth?’ Say: ‘Allah’. And verily we or you are upon right guidance, or in manifest error.”

In training and teaching we should make the conscience of the addressees awaken by the use of the method of asking questions and cause their thought to work. That is why, for nullifying the beliefs of polytheists, next to the question of ‘creation’ mentioned in the previous verses, the subject of the act of the giver of sustenance is questioned.

This reasoning is also in the form of ‘question and answer’ in order to awaken their sleeping conscience by this way, and that by the answer which emerges from their inside they find out their mistake.

The Qur’an says:

“Say: ‘Who gives you sustenance from the heavens and the earth?’…”

It is evident that none of them could say that the stone and wooden idols could bring rain down from the sky, grow plants from the earth and give them the earthly and heavenly sources to use.

It is interesting that without waiting for any answer, the Qur’an immediately adds:

“…Say: ‘Allah’…”

Tell them it is Allah Who is the Origin of all these bounties. That is, the matter is so clear and evident that it does not need the opposite party to answer. But the questioner and hearer both say one thing, because even the polytheists knew Allah as the Creator and Giver of sustenance and, for the idols, they considered only the rank of intercession.

This point is also noteworthy that Allah’s sustenance, which comes down from heaven for human beings, is not limited to rain. The light and heat of the sun, the air which exists in the atmosphere of the earth, are also more important than the life- giving drops of rain.

Also, the blessings of the earth are not allocated to plants. kinds of water sources in the ground, various mains some of which had been discovered at that time and some others of them were discovered by the pass of time, all are under this title.

At last, the verse refers to a matter which itself can form the foundation of a proof, a true proof accompanied with the utmost justice and reverence, in a shape that opposite party may come down from the platform of pride and obstinacy and begin to think.

It says:

“…And verily we or you are upon right guidance, or in manifest error.”

This statement points to this matter that there is clear contrast in our belief and yours, therefore it is impossible that both of them are right, because never two opposite things gather with together, therefore one group is upon guidance and the second group is in error.

Now contemplate which group is on guidance and which is on misguidance. You can see the signs in both groups and observe which group contains the signs of guidance and which group has the signs of misguidance.

And this is one of the best methods of discussion and dispute which makes the opposite party contemplate. Some consider it as a kind of precautionary concealment, which is the utmost mistake.

It is interesting that in Arabic text of the verse the word ‘guidance’ has been mentioned with the Arabic word /‘ala/ (upon) and the word ‘error’ is mentioned with the Arabic word: /fi/ (in), which points to this fact that ‘the guided ones’ seem to be riding on a calm horse, or are located on a high place and dominate over all things, while the misguided ones are in deep error and in the darkness of their ignorance.

This is also noteworthy that the holy verse at first mentions ‘guidance’ and the word ‘error’ is cited after it, because at the beginning of the sentence at first it says: ‘We’ and after that it says: ‘you’ in order to have a delicate and colourless hint to the guidance of the first group and the lack of guidance of the second group.

Some of the commentators of the Qur’an believe that the modifier /mubin/ (manifest) refers to /dalal/ (error), because error consists of different kinds and the error of polytheism is the most manifest of all.

But there is also this probability that this modifier is used for both ‘guidance’ and ‘error’, because in these circumstances, inside the words of the eloquent, modifier is not repeated. Thus, both ‘guidance’ and ‘error’ are qualified by ‘manifest’, as in other verses of the Qur’an this qualification is seen for both of them.2