Tafsir of Ta-Ha 20:53

"He who made the earth for you a bed..." (to the end).

It is possible that this is the beginning of a statement from Him, the Almighty and Majestic, and that the speech of Moses, peace be upon him, concluded at His saying: "And he does not forget." In this case, the relative pronoun is the predicate of an omitted subject, and the sentence is—as has been said—an explanatory initiation. It is as if, when the Almighty recounted the speech of Moses up to his saying: "My Lord does not err, nor does He forget," it was asked: "What did Moses mean by his saying, 'My Lord'?" So He, the Almighty, said: "He is the One who made," etc. The Imam chose this, or rather, he said: "It is necessary to conclude this."

It is also possible that it is from the speech of Moses, peace be upon him, on the assumption that he heard it from Allah, the Almighty and Majestic, and inserted it verbatim into his speech. This is why he said: "For you," rather than "for us." It is of the category of iqtibas (quotation). Thus, the relative pronoun is either in a state of nominative case as an adjective for "my Lord," or as the predicate of an omitted subject as in the previous possibility, or it is in the accusative case as a form of praise—a view chosen by al-Zamakhshari. According to both possibilities, the saying of the Almighty: "Then We brought forth" contains an instance of iltifat (shift in mode of address) without ambiguity.

Or, it may be that Moses, peace be upon him, said it of his own accord, without having heard it from Allah, the Almighty and Majestic, and said: "Then We brought forth," attributing the act of bringing forth to the pronoun of the third person. However, when Allah, the Almighty, narrated it, He attributed it to the pronoun of the first person, because the narrator is the one being narrated about; thus, the referent of the two pronouns is one. The apparent speech of Ibn al-Munir indicates his preference for this, as he said after establishing it: "This is a fine, delicate perspective, and it is the closest of the viewpoints to the iltifat." Some have denied that it contains iltifat.

Alternatively, it is that he, peace be upon him, said it from himself in these exact words, unchanged during the narration, and his saying "We brought forth" is like the saying of the king’s elite: "We have commanded, we have ordered, and we have done," while they mean the King. Or, it is attributed to the plural pronoun with the intention of: "We, the collective of servants, brought forth by means of that water, through cultivation, pairs of diverse plants," as has been said. In this case, and the one before it, there is no iltifat in "We brought forth."

It is also possible that this is the speech of Moses, peace be upon him, up to the word "water," and what follows is the speech of Allah, the Almighty and Majestic, which He connected to the speech of Moses, peace be upon him, at the time of narrating it to our Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace. The most preferred view to me is the first possibility; indeed, it is almost certain, followed by the second possibility, then the third. The rest of the possibilities are nothing. The reason for this is hardly hidden, and similar verses will come, if Allah wills, in [Surah] az-Zukhruf.

"The bed" (al-mahd) is originally a verbal noun, then it was made a generic name for that which is spread out for an infant. Its accusative case is because it is the second object of "made," if it is in the sense of "rendered," or it is a circumstantial state if it is in the sense of "created." The meaning is: "He made it for you like a bed." It is permissible that it remains in its state of being a verbal noun, not transposed to what was mentioned, and the meaning is "He made it possessing a bed," or "spread out," or it is the bed itself as an hyperbole. It is also permitted that it is in the accusative case due to an implied verb of the same root, meaning: "He bedded it, a bedding," in the sense of spreading and flattening it, and the sentence is a circumstantial state from the agent or the object.

Many recited "as a bed" (mihadan), which is, according to al-Mufaddal, like "the bed" (al-mahd) in its quality of being a verbal noun and transposed. Abu Ubayd said: "Al-mihad is a noun, and al-mahd is a verbal noun." Some said: "It is the plural of mahd, like ka'b and ki'ab," while the famous plural is muhud. The meaning of the plural is: "He made every place of it a bed for every one of you."

"And He threaded for you therein paths" (i.e., He created for you roads and centered them between the mountains and the valleys, which you traverse from region to region to fulfill your needs and benefit from their utilities and amenities). To indicate that the benefit is specifically for humanity, "for you" is repeated, having been mentioned first to show that the primary intended recipient of these things is the human being.

"And He sent down from the sky" (from its direction, or from it itself, according to some reports) "water" (which is the rain). "Then We brought forth with it" (i.e., by means of that water and as its intermediary, since Allah, the Almighty, deposited in it what He deposited, as the Maturidis and others of the pious predecessors held. However, it does not exert influence except by the permission of Allah, like all other causes, so it does not contradict the fact that He, the Almighty and Majestic, is the true effector). He, the Almighty, did this—despite His perfect power to create what He wills without the mediation of anything, just as He created some things in that manner—in observance of wisdom.

It is said: "By it" means "at it." The Ash'aris went to this, holding that water, like fire, does not possess the inherent power of hydration, and fire, like water, does not possess the inherent power of burning. The only difference between them is that the custom of Allah, the Almighty, has been to create hydration upon the drinking of water and burning upon the contact of fire, not the reverse. They claimed that whoever says: "In any of the causes lies a power of influence deposited by Allah," is closer to disbelief than to faith—and by my life, this is a place of recklessness.

The apparent meaning is that one should say: "Then He brought forth," except that it shifted to the first person to alert one to the clarity of what it contains of evidence for perfect power and wisdom, through the fact that only a great matter is attributed to the Great, and to notify that it cannot be accomplished except by an All-Powerful, Obeyed, and Great-Statured One, to whose command things of various kinds yield and to whose will they submit. For such an expression is used by kings and the great ones whose commands are effective. This past tense, denoting certainty, reinforces this, as does the particle fa (then), which denotes speed; for it is for immediate succession, as some researchers have established. Some have made the "sending down" and the "bringing forth" expressions for the will of sending down and bringing forth, arguing by the impossibility of "exertion of labor" in the affair of the Almighty—exalted is His majesty.

This has been objected to with a point that requires examination, and it does not harm that it is a conventional succession; nor is it made to signify causality, for that is known from the ba (in/with). al-Khafaji said: "You may say that the fa is for the causality of the will following the sending down, and the ba is for the causality of the plant following the water, so there is no repetition, as in His saying: 'That We might bring to life with it'—perhaps this is closer."

You know that succession is clearer and more eloquent, and there has appeared in this pattern of iltifat—for the aforementioned point—the saying of the Almighty: "Do you not see that Allah sent down from the sky water, then We brought forth with it fruits of various colors?" and His saying: "Or, who created the heavens and the earth and sent down for you from the sky water, then We caused to grow with it gardens of beauty?" and His saying: "And it is He who sent down from the sky water, then We brought forth with it the vegetation of everything."

"Pairs" (i.e., categories, to which this name is applied because of their coupling and the association of some with others).

"Of vegetation" (is an exposition and an adjective for "pairs"). Likewise is His saying: "Diverse" (i.e., separated; the plural of shatit, like marid and marda, its ta being for the feminine). Abu al-Baqa permitted it to be an adjective for "vegetation," since it is originally a verbal noun that is the same for the singular and the plural, meaning that they are various—differing in utility, taste, color, scent, and form—some of which are suitable for people and others for livestock.

They said: Among His blessings, the Almighty and Majestic, is that the sustenance of the servants is only obtained by the work of the livestock, and Allah, the Almighty, has made their fodder from what exceeds the needs of the servants, which they are not able to eat.