ﱙ ﱚ ﱛ ﱜ ﱝ ﱞ ﱟ ﱠ ﱡ ﱢ ﱣ ﱤ ﱥ ﱦ ﱧ ﱨ ﱩ ﱪ ﱫ ﱬ ﱭ ﱮ ﱯ ﱰ
Do they not contemplate within themselves? Allah has not created the heavens and the earth and what is between them except in truth and for a specified term. And indeed, many of the people, in [the matter of] the meeting with their Lord, are disbelievers.
Tafsir
Verse range: 30:8
{Do they not contemplate}—an expression of denial and disparagement of their vision being limited to what was mentioned of the outer life of this world, while being heedless of the Hereafter. The waw (and) acts as a conjunction to an implied element required by the context.
His statement, may He be exalted, {within themselves} is a prepositional phrase related to "contemplate." Its mention—despite the fact that contemplation can only occur within the soul—is for the sake of verifying the matter and heightening the portrayal of the state of those who contemplate, similar to saying: "Believe it in your heart" and "See it with your eye."
His statement, may He be glorified, {Allah has not created the heavens and the earth and that which is between them except in truth} is related either to the knowledge to which contemplation leads and signifies, or to the statement that follows from it, as in His saying, "And they contemplate the creation of the heavens and the earth [saying]: 'Our Lord, You did not create this in vain.'" That is: Did they only know the outer life of this world, or limit their view to that, without initiating contemplation within their hearts so that they might know that Allah did not create the heavens, the earth, and what is between them—the created beings of which they are a part—in a state of being associated with anything, except that it is in a state of being associated with "the truth"? Or [did they fail to] say this statement, acknowledging its content after they had learned it?
"The truth" (al-haqq) means that which is established, which must inevitably exist because it is built upon profound wisdoms. Among these wisdoms is the provision of evidence to those who are held accountable, through the very nature of these creations, their attributes, and their states, regarding the existence of their Maker, His oneness, His knowledge, His power, His exclusivity in being worthy of worship, and the veracity of His reports. Among those reports is the fact that they will be resurrected after annihilation to an eternal life, and that they will be recompensed according to their deeds—whereby the righteous is distinguished from the evildoer, and the degrees of each individual in both groups are distinguished according to the differentiation in the levels of their knowledge and beliefs. These beliefs follow their observation of the signs, proofs, indications, and hints placed in the manufactured creations, as expressed by His saying: "It is He who created the heavens and the earth in six days and His Throne was upon the water that He might test you [as to] which of you is best in deed." For "deed" is not limited to the actions of the limbs; that is why the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, interpreted it by saying: "Which of you is best in intellect, most abstinent regarding the prohibitions of Allah, and swiftest in the obedience of Allah, the Almighty and Majestic."
His statement, may He be exalted, {and a specified term} is a conjunction to "the truth." That is, and for a specific term that Allah, may He be exalted, has ordained for their duration, they must inevitably reach it. This is the time of the coming of the Hour, the changing of the earth to another earth, and the heavens.
It is permissible that His statement, {within themselves}, relates to "contemplate" as a direct object through an intermediary, meaning: Do they not contemplate their own essences and souls—which are the closest of created things to them, and of whose affairs they are more knowledgeable and informed than they are of anything else? Thus, they would reflect upon what Allah has deposited within them, outwardly and inwardly, of the wonders of wisdom that point to governance rather than neglect, and that they must inevitably reach a time when the Wise One, who governed their affairs, will recompense them—rewarding goodness with goodness and evil with its like. Then, they would know that the affair of all other creatures is similarly proceeding according to wisdom and governance, and that they must all inevitably reach that time. However, it has been objected that the matter of man’s resurrection and his recompense for the evil or good he has done is the essential purpose requiring proof; thus, making it a pretext for proving the resurrection of others, while it is itself in need of proof, would be an inversion of the matter. Reflect on this.
Abu Hayyan permitted that {Allah has not created...} be the object of "contemplate," with the contemplation being suspended by the negation. You know, however, that such suspension in a case like this is prohibited or rare.
His statement, {And indeed, many of the people are, in [the matter of] the meeting with their Lord, disbelievers} is a concluding remark affirming what preceded it by clarifying that most of them are not merely limited to the aforementioned heedlessness regarding the states of the Hereafter and the turning away from contemplating what would guide them to the knowledge of it—namely, the creation of the heavens and the earth and the artifacts between them—but rather, they are deniers and rejecters of the meeting with their Lord, His reckoning, and His recompense, the Almighty and Majestic, through resurrection. They are those who claim the eternity of the world, like the philosophers, according to the well-known view.
