Tafsir of Al-Anbiya' 21:31

"And We placed upon the earth..."

Meaning: Out of dislike that it should "sway with them" and become unstable. Or, [it means] "lest it sway with them," where the la (no) and the lam (preposition) have been elided. The elision of la is permissible here because there is no ambiguity, just as it is added in instances like His saying: "Lest the People of the Scripture know" (Al-Hadid: 29). This is the school of the Kufans.

Al-Fijj: A wide path.

If you ask: Since fijaj (wide paths) carries the meaning of a description, why was it placed before subul (paths) here, rather than after it, as in His saying: "That you may traverse therein paths, wide" (Nuh: 20)?

I say: It was not placed before it as an adjective; rather, it was made a hal (state/adverbial accusative), like the poet’s saying: "To 'Izza, a desolate, ancient ruin."

If you ask: What is the difference between the two in terms of meaning?

I say: The first [in Nuh] is an announcement that He placed wide paths within it. The second [in Al-Anbiya] is that when He created it, He created it with that specific quality. It is an explanation of what was left ambiguous there.

"And We made therein broad paths..."

[The earth is] preserved, held by His power from falling upon the earth or shaking, or [protected] by the shooting stars from the devils eavesdropping on its inhabitants, the angels.

"And they are, of His signs, turning away"

Meaning: From what God has placed therein as proofs and lessons—the sun, the moon, and all the luminous bodies, their courses, their rising, and their setting, according to precise calculation and wondrous order. This points to consummate wisdom and overwhelming power. What ignorance is greater than the ignorance of one who turns away from them, whose mind does not lead him to contemplate them, to take heed from them, and to infer the greatness of the One who brought them into existence from nothing, arranged them, set them in this configuration, and deposited within them what He deposited—the essence of which none knows but He, in His might and the subtlety of His knowledge.

It is also recited as 'an ayatiha (singular), using the singular to suffice for the genus. Meaning: They are attentive to the worldly benefits that come to them from the heavens—such as illumination by the two luminaries, guidance by the stars, and the life of the earth and animals through the rain—yet they are turning away from the fact that these are clear signs of the Creator.

"And it is He who created the night and the day and the sun and the moon; all in an orbit are swimming."