Surah Al-Ghashiyah 88:20
ﳂ ﳃ ﳄ ﳅ
And at the earth - how it is spread out?
Tafsir of Al-Ghashiyah 88:20
Tafsir
Ruh al-Ma'ani
Verse range: 88:20
And to the earth, upon which they walk and move about: how it was leveled, spread out, smoothed, and flattened—established according to what the welfare of its inhabitants requires. This does not contradict the statement that it is close to a true sphere due to its immense size.
Ali—may Allah ennoble his face—, Abu Haywah, and Ibn Abi Ablah read: khalaqtu, rafa‘tu, nasabtu, sutahtu (I created, I raised, I erected, I leveled), with the first-person singular pronoun as the active subject, and the object being a suppressed pronoun that refers back to the antecedent, implying an inclusion—that is, "I created it, I raised it, I erected it, I leveled it."
Al-Hasan and Harun al-Rashid read suttihat with the ta emphasized (doubled).
The meaning is: Do they not look—with a gaze of contemplation and reflection—at how these creations were fashioned, which testify to the truth of the Resurrection and the Gathering, so that they may turn away from the denial and aversion they are upon, heed your warning, and prepare for the encounter with it through faith and obedience?
It is permissible to interpret the "looking" as physical sight, in which case the verse implies a claim that the objective truth is so manifest that the mere sight of these creations makes it evident. However, this is contrary to the apparent meaning.