"Have you not seen that Allah sent down water from the sky..."

This is a new commencement, initiated to address what occurs to the mind, in confirmation of the great power of the Almighty, as indicated by His saying: "Then I seized those who disbelieved, and how [terrible] was My reproach!" The Sheikh al-Islam said: It is to confirm the preceding topic regarding the differences among people, by explaining that difference and variation is a pervasive rule in all created things—plants, inanimate objects, and animals.

Abu Hayyan said: It is a confirmation of His Oneness, the Almighty, through celestial and terrestrial evidence, following the confirmation provided by the parables He set forth. This is as you see, and the interrogation is for confirmation. The "seeing" is of the heart; for although the descent of rain is perceived by sight, the fact that it is Allah Almighty who sends it down is not perceived in the same way. The address is general; meaning, have you not come to know that Allah Almighty sent down from the direction of the heights water, "and We brought forth with it"—that is, with that water, acting as a customary cause for the emergence (some say it means "alongside it"). The shift to the first-person plural ("We") is to show complete concern for the act, due to the marvelous craftsmanship it contains, which signifies the perfection of power and wisdom—"fruits of various colors." This means various types: apples, pomegranates, grapes, figs, and others that cannot be counted. It is like saying, "Such-and-such person brought forth 'colors' (varieties) of narrations," or "He presented such-and-such 'color' (type) of food." The difference in each type is through the multiplicity of its kinds; for example, apples have varieties that differ in taste and form, as do all other fruits. It is rare to find a type that does not have diverse sub-varieties. It is also permissible that it refers to the difference of each type through the diversity of its individual units.

'Abd ibn Humayd and Ibn Jarir narrated from Qatadah that he interpreted the "colors" in their well-known sense, meaning their variation in yellowness, redness, greenness, and others. This was also narrated from Ibn Abbas, and it is more consistent with the following saying of the Almighty: "And among the mountains are paths (judad) white and red." This is either a conjunction to what precedes it in terms of meaning, or it is a state (hal). Its being a new commencement, despite its connection to the preceding, is not apparent. "Judad" is the plural of "juddah," meaning a path or stripe, from the verb "jadda" (he cut), implying a tract.

Abu al-Fadl said: They are paths whose color differs from the color of what adjoins them. From this comes the "juddah" of a donkey—the line in the middle of its back whose color differs. Ibn al-Azraq asked Ibn Abbas—may Allah be pleased with them both—about the judad, and he said, "Paths; a white path and a red path," and he recited the poet's verse: “The wolf has left upon her flanks stripes (judad), as if they were roads appearing upon hills.” The speech is based on the assumption of an omitted term, if hyperbole is not intended, because mountains are not the stripes themselves; it means "possessing stripes." Al-Zuhari read it as judad (with two dammahs), the plural of jadidah, like safinah and sufun, meaning juddah. The author of al-Lawami' said it is the plural of jadid (new), meaning new, distinctively colored tracks. Abu 'Ubaydah said the meaning of "new" has no place in this verse. Perhaps those who hold the view of the continuous formation of mountains—that they form from waters springing from the earth and hardening layer by layer, then springing from a place near what has hardened and hardening again, and so on until a mountain is formed—would not refuse to interpret the verse according to this reading. However, the apparent meaning of the verses and reports is that Allah Almighty created the mountains shortly after creating the earth so that it would not sway with its inhabitants. The philosophers claim they were mud in receding seas that later hardened. The Imam spoke at length about this in his book al-Mabahith al-Mashriqiyah, and he argued for this by the presence of marine objects, such as seashells, within their parts. This, upon critical inspection, is like dust, and most of the evidence is merely symbolic. Whoever wishes to examine what they said should refer to their books. It was also narrated from him (Ibn Abbas) that he read it jadad (with two fathas), but Abu Hatim did not approve of this and said: "This reading is not correct in terms of meaning." Others deemed it correct and said: Jadad is the clear, manifest path, but the singular was placed in the position of the plural, which is why it was described with the plural. It is also said to be of the category of "mixed drops" and "worn garments," because the road consists of segments. This was countered by the claim that it is not apparent nor suitable for the pluralization of mountains. "Different in their colors" means their varieties in intensity and weakness, because they are predicable by gradation; thus mukhtalif is an adjective for "white and red," and "their colors" is the agent of mukhtalif, not a subject, and mukhtalif is its predicate, because mukhtalifah (feminine) would be required otherwise. It is also permissible for it to be an adjective for judad.

"And [some] pitch-black" (ghurabib) is a conjunction to "white." It is one of the details of the judad and the qualities pertaining to them; meaning, among the mountains are those having white paths, red ones, and pitch-black ones. Ghurabib refers to that which is extreme in blackness and intense in it; from this comes ghurab (raven). It became frequent in their speech to use it as an appositive to "black," as an adjective for it or as a verbal emphasis, so they said "black ghurabib," just as they said "white yaqaq," "yellow faqe'," and "red qani."

The apparent meaning of al-Zamakhshari’s speech is that ghurabib here is an emphasis for an omitted word, the origin being "black ghurabib," meaning intense black. This has been contested, saying it is not correct except according to the school of those who permit the omission of the emphasized word. Among the grammarians are those who forbid this—this is the preference of Ibn Malik—because emphasis requires attention, strengthening, and the intent of elongation, while omission requires the opposite. Al-Saffar refuted this, as in the Sharh al-Tashil, because what is omitted for a reason is like that which is mentioned, so it does not contradict its emphasis. In some commentaries on al-Mufassal, it is said that it is an adjective for that omitted word, placed in its stead after its omission. His saying, "black," is a substitute for it or an appositive explanation (bayan) for it, and it explains the omitted term. Similar to this is the saying of al-Nabighah: "And the believers, the protecting ones, the birds..." (the birds being the explanation of the omitted term). This contains explanation after ambiguity and increased attention to the description of blackness, as it is indicated by way of concealment and disclosure.

It is also permissible that the conjunction is to judad, meaning: "And among the mountains are those possessing judad of different colors, and among them are ghurabib (pitch-black) of uniform color," as indicated by the contrast and the phrasing of the construction in the manner you have heard. It is as if, when he focused on the matter of blackness by stating that it is in the utmost intensity, he did not mention thereafter the variation in intensity and weakness.

Al-Farra' said: The speech is based on precedence and postponement, meaning "black ghurabib." It is also said there is no emphasized word nor omitted noun, but ghurabib is conjoined to judad or to "white" from the start, and "black" is a substitute for it. He said in al-Bahr: "This is good, and it is reinforced by the fact that ghurabib is not necessarily used as an emphasis." From this is what came in the Hadith: "Allah Almighty hates the ghurabib old man," meaning one who dyes [his hair] with black. Ibn al-Athir interpreted it as one who does not go gray, due to his foolishness or lack of concern for the affair of his afterlife. He narrated what is in al-Bahr with the phrasing "it is said." The poet's verse: "The eye is ambitious, the hand is lofty, the foot is revealed, and the face is ghurabib."