Tafsir of Abasa 80:25

{أنا صببنا الماء} is a badal ishtimal (substitutive apposition of inclusion) for it [the food mentioned in the previous verse]; for, due to water being one of the causes of its formation, it is as if it is included within it. The referent pronoun [linking it to the antecedent] is omitted; that is, "We poured the water for it." It is also permitted that it be a badal kull min kull (total substitution), bearing the meaning: "Let man look at Our bestowals in his food: [by noting that] We poured the water..." and this is as you see [i.e., weak]. In any case, what is intended by the "looking" is the substituted matter, and through this, the narration reported from Ubayy, Ibn Abbas, Mujahid, Al-Hasan, and others is weakened—which suggests that the meaning is: "Let man look at his food when it becomes excrement, to contemplate the outcome of this world and what its people are obsessed with." By my life, this is far from the intended context, and I do not think there is a consensus on the authenticity of its reporting from these esteemed figures.

The manifest meaning of "pouring" necessitates restricting the water to rain, which is what is reported from Ibn Abbas. Some have permitted the more general meaning, saying that in every instance of water, there is a "pouring" from Allah the Exalted by creating the causes for it at the roots of plants. You know, however, that calling the arrival of water to the roots of plants "pouring" is far-fetched.

The sentence is emphasized [with inna] due to the importance of its content, especially since it is a subject prone to denial by the short-sighted who lack the perception of Allah the Exalted’s agency; for acknowledgement of the reliance upon Him, Majestic is His Might, is only achieved through sound contemplation.

The majority read inna with a kasra as an explanatory initiation (isti'naf bayani), as if—when He, Glorified be He, commanded the contemplation of the various types of food He has provided—it was asked, "How did He bring that about and create it after it was not?" It was then said, "Verily, We poured the water..."

The Imam Al-Husayn, son of the Commander of the Faithful Ali—may Allah the Exalted ennoble his face and be pleased with them both—read anna (أنى) with a fatha on the hamza and imala (inclination of the vowel), meaning: "Let man look at how We poured the water in an astonishing manner."