Tafsir of Ar-Rum 30:27

{And it is easier for Him} According to what you deem necessary, what is measured by your own principles, and what your reason demands. For when one of you repeats a craft, it is easier and lighter for him than creating it from scratch. You excuse a craftsman when he errs in some of what he creates by saying: "The first attempt is clumsy." You call one who is skilled in his craft a "repeater" (mu‘awid), meaning he has repeated it time after time until he became proficient and it became easy for him.

If you ask: Why is the pronoun used in His saying {it is easier for Him} when the intended meaning is "the repetition"? I say: It means: "And that He should repeat it is easier for Him."

If you ask: Why was the prepositional phrase (al-silah) delayed in {it is easier for Him}, while it was brought forward in His saying {it is easy for Me} (Maryam: 21)? I say: There, the intent was exclusivity (al-ikhtisas), which is the crux of the matter. Thus, it was said: "It is easy for Me," even if it is difficult for you that a child be born between a barren woman and an old man. Here, however, there is no meaning of exclusivity. Furthermore, the matter is based on what they understand—that repetition is easier than origination. If the prepositional phrase were brought forward here, the meaning would be corrupted.

If you ask: Why is repetition magnified in His saying {Then when He calls you...} as if it were superior to the sustaining of the heavens and the earth by His command, and then subsequently made light? I say: Repetition in itself is great, but it is made light in comparison to the initial creation.

It is said: The pronoun in "for Him" refers to the creation. Its meaning is: Resurrection is easier for the creation than origination, because its formation in a state of stability and completion is easier for it and involves less fatigue and hardship than transitioning through various states until reaching that limit.

It is said: "Easier" (al-ahwan) here means "easy" (al-hayyin).

Another perspective: Origination is of the category of "bounty" (tafaddul), in which the agent has the choice to perform it or not. Repetition is of the category of the "obligatory" (wajib), which must be performed because it is for the recompense of deeds, and recompense is obligatory. Actions are either:

1. Impossible: Excluded from what is within power.
2. Prevented by a deterrent: Such as the "ugly" (al-qabih), which is synonymous with the impossible because the deterrent prevents the existence of the act just as impossibility does.
3. Bounty: A state between the two, where the agent may or may not perform it.
4. Obligatory: Which must be performed, with no way to neglect it. Thus, the obligatory is the furthest of actions from impossibility and the closest to realization. Since repetition is of the category of the obligatory, it is the furthest from impossibility. Being the furthest from impossibility, it is the most conducive to ease and facility, and thus it is "easier." And if it is easier than that, it is easier than origination.

{And to Him belongs the highest attribute} Meaning: The highest description, for which no one else has an equal, and by which He is known. It is described in the heavens and the earth upon the tongues of the creatures and the tongues of the proofs: that He is the All-Powerful who is not incapable of anything—origination, repetition, or other possibilities. This is indicated by His saying: {And He is the Exalted in Might, the Wise}—the Subduer of all that is possible, the Wise who conducts every action according to the dictates of His wisdom and knowledge.

Mujahid said: {The highest attribute} is the statement "There is no god but Allah." Its meaning is: To Him belongs the highest description, which is the description of Oneness. This is supported by His saying: {He presents to you an example from your own selves} (Ar-Rum: 28).

Al-Zajjaj said: {And to Him belongs the highest attribute in the heavens and the earth}—meaning His saying {And it is easier for Him} is a parable He has set for you regarding what is difficult and what is easy. He intends the first interpretation.