Tafsir of Al-Isra 17:66

(This is a nominal sentence consisting of a subject and a predicate. It is also said that the relative pronoun is an adjective for "your Lord," and it is an adjective for His saying, the Exalted, "who created you," or it is an appositive [badal] to it, and that is permissible even if the distance between them is significant.) And in this there is what there is.

The root meaning of izjā [driving] is driving gradually, state after state, and what is intended by it here is setting into motion. It is as if this word was chosen over others because it indicates compulsion [in movement] more strongly, which is more fitting for the context and greater in showing favor. That is: He, glory be to Him and the Exalted, is the Powerful, the Wise, who moves the ships in the sea for your benefit—by way of a gentle wind and by [human] instruments—according to how His habit, the Exalted, has proceeded.

"That you may seek of His bounty"

This is an explicit statement of the benefit; that is, that you may seek His provision, which is a bounty from Him, glory be to Him, or from the profit which He, glorious is His status, bestows. The "min" [of] is partitive. Interpreting "bounty" as Hajj [pilgrimage] or military expeditions is not appropriate. This is a reminder of some of the blessings that serve as proofs of Tawhid [the Oneness of God], which is the primary objective of the mission [of the Prophet], and it is a prelude to mentioning their [the polytheists'] turning to Tawhid when harm touches them, as a completion to what preceded in His saying, the Exalted: "For they have no power..."

"Indeed, He is ever..."

(Eternally and forever)

"...to you, Merciful."

Since He has prepared for you what you need and has made easy for you that which is difficult from its prerequisites. This is a subduing [of the forces of nature], containing the justification for the aforementioned driving [of the ships] and the seeking of bounty. The form Rahīm [Merciful], as in Irshād al-'Aql al-Salīm, is to indicate that what is intended by "mercy" is worldly mercy and immediate blessings, divided into the significant and the trivial. This is based on the specialization of Rahīm to the worldly life, as is commonly known; upon this is based the [supplication]: "O Merciful of the world and the Hereafter, and Merciful of the world." It has also been said that there is no such specialization, and upon this is based [the supplication]: "O Merciful of the world and the Hereafter, and the Merciful of them both."