Tafsir of An-Nur 24:43

"Do you not see that Allah drives clouds" — this is a confirmation and clarification of what preceded it. Al-Izja' (driving) is the pushing of a thing with gentleness and ease. It is also said: it is the pushing of a heavy thing with gentleness, and it became predominant for what was mentioned by some prominent figures regarding pushing something slight or insignificant. Regarding the al-bada’ah al-muzjah (scanty merchandise), it means goods that are pushed along, one after another, despite their scarcity and weakness. It is also said: it means that which is pushed—that is, offered to the public—due to a lack of desire for it.

The expression yuzji (He drives), based on what was mentioned, contains an allusion that the clouds, in relation to His Exalted Power, are among the things that are not considered. Sahab (clouds) is a collective noun, the singular of which is sahabah. The meaning, as stated in al-Bahr, is that He drives one cloud toward another.

"Then He joins them together" — that is, He connects one cloud with another. Many have said: al-Sahab is singular, like al-‘ama’ (the clouds), and the intention is that He joins its parts and fragments together. This is because "between" (bayna) cannot be added to something that is not plural. Through this interpretation, the plurality is obtained, as was said regarding His saying: Bayna al-Dukhuli fa-Hawmal. Some have dispensed with this by considering al-Sahab a collective noun, as you have heard.

Warsh from Nafi‘ read yu’allif (without the hamza).

"Then He piles them into a heap" — meaning, piled one on top of another.

"And you see the wadq (rain)" — meaning the rain, whether heavy or light, appearing following their piling and thickening. Ibn Abi Hatim narrated from Abu Bujaylah, from his father, that he interpreted wadq as lightning, but we have not seen this attributed to anyone else. What we have seen in most exegeses and linguistics books is that it is the rain.

"Coming out from its midst" — meaning from its fissures and outlets that were created by the piling and the compressing. Khilalihi is the plural of khilal, like jibal (mountains) and jabal. It is also said: it is singular, like hijab (veil) and hijaz. This is supported by the reading of Ibn Abbas, Ibn Mas‘ud, Ibn Zayd, al-Dahhak, and Mu‘adh al-‘Anbari from Abu ‘Amr and al-Za‘farani: min khilalihi. In that case, the meaning is of the generic type. The clause is in the position of a state (hal) of the wadq, because the vision here is ocular. In following the aforementioned ja‘l (making) with the vision of it emerging—rather than [merely] its emergence—there is an emphasis on the speed of the emergence, in the manner of His saying: “So We said, ‘Strike the sea with your staff,’ and it parted.” There is also a level of care in establishing the vision that is not hidden.

"And He sends down from the sky" — meaning from the clouds, for everything that is above you is a sky (sama’). It is as if the shift to [the word] sama’ is to allude to the fact that "loftiness" (sumuw) has an entry point into what descends, based on the famous [opinion] regarding the cause of the formation of hail. It is permitted that the intention is the direction of height, to allude to the aforementioned, while mentioning the descent.

"From mountains" — meaning from massive masses that resemble mountains in their greatness, using hyperbolic metaphor, just as in His saying: “Until when he made it fire.” The intention here is masses of clouds. Among the strange interpretations—which language does not support, as noted in al-Durar and al-Ghurar al-Radawiyyah—is the statement of al-Asbahani: that the mountains are what Allah has jabala (created) of hail.

"Within it" — meaning in the sky. The prepositional phrase is in the position of a descriptor for the mountains.

"Of hail" — which is well known. It is called barad (hail) because it cools (yubrid) the face of the earth, meaning it peels it; derived from baradtu al-shay’ bi-al-mibrad (I filed the thing with a file). [It is] the object of yunzilu (He sends down), on the basis that min is partitive. It is also said: it is redundant, according to the opinion of al-Akhfash. The first two [instances] are for the starting point of the limit, and the second prepositional phrase is a substitute for the first—a substitute of inclusion or partiality. That is: He sends down, starting from the sky, from mountains existing therein, some hail, or hail.

Al-Hufi claimed that the second min is partitive, like the third, alongside his opinion of substitutability, which is an obvious error. It is said: the first min is for the starting point, the second is partitive and placed in the position of the direct object. It is also said: it is redundant according to al-Akhfash, and the third is for clarification. That is: He sends down, starting from the sky, some mountains, or mountains existing therein, which are hail; so what is sent down is hail. According to al-Akhfash, the second and third min are redundant, and both prepositional phrases are in the accusative position: the first as the object of yunzilu, and the second as a substitute for it. That is: He sends down from the sky mountains of hail, and the result is: He sends down from the sky hail.

Al-Farra’ said: Both are redundant, except that the noun governed by the first is in the accusative position as the object, and the noun governed by the second is in the nominative position—either as a subject, with fiha as its predicate (the pronoun in fiha referring to the mountains, meaning: He sends down from the sky mountains, and in those mountains is hail, not anything else like pebbles, etc.), or as the agent of fiha, because it relied upon a described noun (i.e., the mountains), and the pronoun refers back to it as well. The intention of "mountains," contrary to the opinion of the majority, is metaphorical; its usage has come in such a way in the words of Ibn Muqbil: "If I die, having forgotten the rhyming verses, you will not see for them a poet more demanding than me, nor more poetic, nor having composed more verses of poetry; I have struck for it the bellies of the mountains of poetry until it became easy." It is said: "He has a mountain of gold" and "a mountain of knowledge."

From Mujahid, al-Kalbi, and most exegetes, the intention of the "sky" is the darkened clouds, and by "mountains," their literal meaning. They said: Allah created mountains of hail in the sky, just as He created mountains of stone on earth. There is nothing in reason that negates this from a definitive proof, so it is permitted to keep the verse to its literal meaning, as it is said.

It is famous among the philosophers that the emission of celestial forces and their rays may necessitate the rising of subtle bodies, elevated above the water, mixed with air—these are what are called vapors. Because of their heaviness relative to smoke due to their humidity, and the dryness of smoke, they stop in the realm of the air such that the heat resulting from the rays reflected from the body of the earth does not reach them. They remain distant from what is heated by the heat of fire, so they remain in the cold layer of the air. They cool and thicken by rising, little by little, so clouds accumulate from them. Then they drip as rain, either all of it or some of it, while some of it disperses due to its remaining in its airy form, and what dripped transforms into its watery form. If the distance is long, they connect, and the drops become larger. If the cold intensifies upon them, they become hail or descend as snow. The rising of vapor is prevented at that time, so the face of the earth cools along with the coldness of the atmosphere, so there is strong hail. If it encounters wind, the cold intensifies because the wind removes the earthly vapor. If it does not encounter wind, the vapor melts the snow and warms the face of the earth. They mentioned that whenever the distance is long, they connect, the drops become larger, and they encounter cold, the hail becomes larger in size. Sometimes rain solidifies into hail inside the clouds, then descends. This happens in the spring when it is struck by heat from outside, so the coldness becomes internalized within it upon its dissolution into drops, and it freezes. Sometimes the vapor is more condensed, so it cannot rise and cools quickly due to the cold of the night that meets it, as there is no ray; it is not in a state to become clouds, so shadows form from it. Sometimes it freezes in the heights before it piles up, so frost forms from it. Sometimes the air condenses due to extreme cold, so it forms clouds and rains according to its condition.

The truth is that all of this is based on the will of Allah, the Almighty and Majestic, and His decree, which is based on wisdom, interests, and the causes mentioned, which are customary. I see no harm in saying this, and given that the first of the causes are the celestial forces and their rays, it is correct to say: the descent originates from the sky, as indicated by the learned al-Baydawi in his discussion on Surat al-Baqarah. Carrying the verse to what agrees with the famous [position] does not detract from its eloquence; rather, it is more eloquent, and further from the doubts of the commoners, especially the people of the mountains who may receive rain, and hail descends on their land while they are above the mountains in the sun.

"He strikes with it" — meaning with what descends of hail.

"Whomever He wills" — meaning He strikes him, and he receives what he receives of harm to his wealth and soul.

"And He turns it away from whomever He wills" — that He turns it away from him, so he is saved from its disaster. The return of the two pronouns to the hail is the most apparent [interpretation].

In al-Bahr, it is possible that they return to the wadq (rain), and the hail is treated as a demonstrative noun; as if it were said: "He strikes with that, and turns that away." Rain is more frequent in striking and turning away, and more expressive in benefit and gratitude. This has a remoteness and obvious prevention.

"The radiance of its lightning" — meaning the light of the lightning of the clouds described by what has passed of driving, joining, and others. Attributing the lightning to it before reporting its existence is to notify of the appearance of its matter and its lack of need for a explicit declaration. According to what you heard from Abu Bujaylah, this is not needed. The return of the pronoun to the hail—meaning the lightning of the hail that accompanies it—is nothing. The discussion on the reality of lightning has preceded, so remember it.

Talhah ibn Musarrif read sana’ (with an extended alif), and barqihi with a damma on the ba’ and a fatha on the ra’, which is the plural of barqah (with a damma on the ba’), which is the amount of lightning, like ghurfah (a handful) and luqmah (a morsel). It is also narrated from him that he read burqihi with a damma on the ba’ and the ra’, making the vowel of the ra’ follow the vowel of the ba’, as it is said that its counterpart is in zulumat. Sana’ (with an extended alif) means loftiness and elevation of status; here it is a metonymy for the intensity of the light. It was also read yakadu sana with the assimilation of the dal into the sin.

"Almost takes away the sight" — meaning it protects/guards it [the sight] from the excess of the light and the speed of its arrival. In the release of the "sights" (al-absar), there is further terrorizing of its matter and an explanation of the intensity of its effect upon them, as if it almost takes them away even when closing the eyes. This is one of the strongest proofs of complete power, in that it is the generation of a contrary from a contrary.

Abu Ja‘far read yudhhibu (with a damma on the ya’ and a kasra on the ha’). Al-Akhfash and Abu Hatim went toward declaring this reading erroneous, saying: because the ba’ is treated like the hamza, and it is not permissible for two tools of transitivization to meet. He was mistaken in that, for he would not recite except by what was narrated. He took the recitation from the leaders of the Tabi‘in, who took from the prominent Companions—Ubayy and others, may Allah be pleased with them. He was not singular in it, as al-Zajjaj claimed, rather Shaybah also recited it as such. This is explained by the redundancy of the ba’, meaning yudhhibu al-absar, and that the ba’ is in the meaning of min (from), as in the saying: “Then I kissed her mouth, grasping by her braids, drinking the blood of the nose-bleeder with the cold of the water of al-Hashraj.” The object is omitted; meaning: it takes the light from the sights. Al-Hariri permitted, as transmitted from him by al-Tibi, the gathering of two tools of transitivization.