Tafsir of Al-Jathiyah 45:4

(And in your creation and what He scatters of moving creatures...)

It is permissible for this to be taken at its apparent meaning. In that case, it would be based on one of two interpretations:

The first is that the "signs" lie within them—that is, the created things contained within them, such as mountains, minerals, planets, and the two luminaries (the sun and moon). On this basis, His statement, "And in your creation," is an instance of mentioning the specific after the general.

The second is that the beings themselves are signs, due to the various ways they point to the All-Powerful, the All-Wise—glorified be His Majesty. This is more evident and more eloquent than saying, "In the creation of them there are signs," even if the meaning points to the same thing. "In your creation" is a fronted predicate, and His statement, "And what He scatters of moving creatures," is a conjunction linked to "creation."

It is considered permissible for "what" (ma) to be a masdariyyah (a particle forming a verbal noun) or a mawsulah (relative pronoun). If the latter, it is either with an implicit genitive construction—meaning: "And in the creation of what He spreads and scatters of moving creatures"—or without one.

It is also permitted to parse it as a conjunction linked to the attached pronoun governed by a genitive construction (idafah), in which case "what" must be a relative pronoun. This is based on the permissibility of conjoining to a genitive-governed pronoun without repeating the preposition, which is the school of the Kufans, Yunus, and al-Akhfash. Abu Hayyan said: "This is the correct view," and it was chosen by the master Abu Ali al-Shalubin. The school of Sibawayh and the majority of the Basrans prohibit such a conjunction—whether the pronoun is governed by a preposition or by a genitive construction—due to the intensity of the attachment, as it resembles conjoining to a part of a word.

Ibn al-Hajib mentioned in his commentary on al-Mufassal, in the chapter on pauses, that some grammarians permit the conjunction in the case of a genitive construction (idafah) but not in the case of a prepositional construction, because the attachment of the governed noun to the possessor is not as strong as its attachment to a preposition, since each maintains its own meaning independently; thus, its attachment is not as intense as it is with a preposition. Al-Jarmi and al-Ziyadi permitted the conjunction if the attached pronoun is reinforced by a detached pronoun, such as: Marartu bika anta wa Zayd (I passed by you—yourself—and Zayd).

His saying, "signs" (ayat), is a postponed subject, and the sentence is conjoined to the sentence, "Indeed, in the heavens..." Ubayy and Abdullah recited it as la-ayat with an emphatic lam. This is mentioned in al-Bahr, though it does not clarify whether ayat is in the accusative or nominative case. If it is in the accusative, the lam is an emphatic particle added to the name of inna when its predicate precedes it, which is one of the many standard positions for its addition. If it is in the nominative, then it is added to the subject, where its addition is less common; however, its addition is made appropriate here by the fact that the sentence to which it is conjoined has been preceded by inna. It is like the saying: "Indeed, the caliphate after them is truly blameworthy, and the caliphs are a vessel for everything I despise."

Zayd ibn Ali read it as ayah in the singular. Al-A'mash, al-Jahdari, Hamza, al-Kisa'i, and Ya'qub read it as ayat in the plural and in the accusative, as a conjunction to the preceding ayat which serves as the noun for inna, since "and in your creation" is conjoined to "in the heavens." It is as if it were said: "And in your creation and what He scatters of moving creatures [there are] signs."

(For a people who are certain)

—that is, those whose nature it is to be certain of things as they truly are.