Tafsir of Ibraheem 14:32

After He, glory be to Him, mentioned the conditions of those who deny His blessings and commanded the believers to establish the rites of obedience in gratitude for them, He—majestic is His praise—began to detail those great blessings and immense favors which necessitate that all of humanity persevere in gratitude and obedience. This serves as an exhortation to the believers and a reproach to the disbelievers who fall short in this regard. Thus, He said, may He be exalted: (God who created the heavens and the earth), etc.

This is the most appropriate interpretation: having spoken at length regarding the conditions of the fortunate and the wretched, and given that happiness is attained through the knowledge of God Almighty and His attributes, while wretchedness is attained through ignorance of such, He concluded the description with proofs indicative of His existence—glory be to Him—and the perfection of His knowledge and power. He said what He said because the aforementioned elements within the connection (sila) appear as blessings, not merely as proofs. The Majestic Name is the subject (mubtada') and the relative clause is the predicate (khabar). The sense of awe and the indication of powerful authority within the discourse are evident. The intended meaning is the creation of the heavens and all the celestial bodies contained within them, and the earth and all types of creatures within it.

(And sent down from the sky)—meaning the clouds—(water)—meaning a type thereof, which is rain. The clouds are called sama' (sky) due to their height; everything that is above you is a sama'. It is also said that the meaning of sama' here is the well-known firmament, for rain originates from it toward the clouds and from the clouds to the earth. This is the view of many modern scholars, based on the apparent meanings of the traditions. The Imam viewed this as unlikely, noting that a human might stand on a high mountain peak and see the clouds below him, and when he descends, he finds it raining. He then stated: "When this is a matter observable by sight, the dispute regarding it is invalid." Some have interpreted the apparent meanings to reconcile this, suggesting that the meaning of the rain descending from the sky is its descent through causes originating from there. In any case, (from) is initial (ibtida'iyyah) and relates to (sent down). The prepositional phrase is placed before the direct object either because it serves as the origin of the descent, or to honor it—as in the saying, "The sultan gave from his treasuries wealth"—or for the sake of the suspense (tashwiq) toward the delayed term, as mentioned more than once.

(And brought forth therewith)—meaning with that water—(fruits as provision for you)—which you live by. It is synonymous with "provided for" (marzuq), intended in the linguistic sense, which is everything one benefits from; thus, it includes food and clothing. It is in the accusative case as the object of (brought forth), and (from the fruits) acts as an exposition (bayan) for it, thus occupying the place of a circumstantial qualifier (hal). Many grammarians have permitted the precedence of the explanatory "from" (min) over what it explains, and this has been discussed previously. Abu Hayyan leaned toward the view that this is forbidden, considering the "from" to be partitive (tab'idiyyah), with the prepositional phrase in the place of a circumstantial qualifier, and (provision) also being an object of (brought forth). It is also permitted that (from) means "some," an object of "brought forth," and (provision) acts as a circumstantial qualifier meaning "provided," serving as an exposition of the intended portion of the fruits, for some are beneficial and thus provision, while others are not. It is also possible that (provision) remains a verbal noun (masdar) in the accusative case as an object for the sake of which the action was done (maf'ul lahu), meaning: "He brought forth that water for the sake of provision and benefit therein." Or, it may be an absolute object (maf'ul mutlaq) for "brought forth," because "He brought forth some fruits" is equivalent to "He provided," just as one says "I sat a sitting" (qa'adtu julusan) according to the well-known rule. It is also said that "from" is pleonastic (za'idah), though only al-Akhfash permits this here. (For you) is an adjective for "provision" if "provided" is intended, or an object if the verbal noun is intended, as if it were said: "Providing it for you," and the 'ba' is for causality. The meaning of the bringing-forth being caused by it is that God Almighty deposited in it a power that is effective by His permission, according to His dazzling wisdom, despite His own self-sufficiency and lack of need for it in the process of creation. This is the view of the early generations (Salaf), to which al-Ash'ari returned, as established in its proper place. Those who claimed that the intended meaning is "brought forth at the time of it" ('indahu)—adopting this interpretation in thousands of places and branding those who hold that God deposited an effective power in certain things as misguided—have gone so far as to claim that such people are closer to disbelief than to faith. In my view, those people are closer to insanity and poor judgment.

(Fruits) refers to what is meant by the plural of multitude, for plural forms often substitute for one another, or because the singular is used to denote the collection of the fruit, as in your saying: "I ate the fruit of so-and-so's orchard." You have already been presented with what is useful to remember in this context, so recall it.

(And He subjected for you the ships)—the vessels—by empowering you to build and use them by inspiring you with the knowledge of how to do so. It is said: by making them not sink in the water. (To sail through the sea) wherever you head (by His command)—by His will, upon which everything depends. Specifying this, according to some researchers, is to emphasize that this is not merely through the exertion of labor and the use of tools, as the surface appearance might suggest. The subjection of the ships includes the subjection of the sea, and likewise, the subjection of the winds.

(And He subjected for you the rivers): He made them prepared for your benefit, as you drink from them and create channels to irrigate your crops and gardens and the like. This is if "rivers" refers to the great waters flowing in specific channels. But if it refers to the channels themselves, their subjection is the ease with which He provided them for you so that water may flow through them.