Tafsir of Ya seen 36:33

"And a sign for them is the dead earth..."

The reading al-maytah (the dead) with the takhfif (lightening of the ya) is more common, as it flows more easily on the tongue.

{We have brought it to life} is an explanatory resumption of why the dead earth is a sign, just as in {We strip...}. It is permissible for the earth and the night to be described with verbs because the intent is to refer to the two genera in an absolute sense, not specific instances of earth or night. Thus, they are treated like indefinite nouns when described with verbs, similar to the verse: “And I pass by the base man who insults me.”

"Grain, from which they eat" The prepositional phrase is placed first to indicate that grain is the primary substance upon which most of life depends, and through which human sustenance is maintained. When it is scarce, famine and hardship occur; when it is lost, destruction and calamity descend.

"And We have caused springs to gush forth" It is read both with takhfif (lightening) and tathqil (weighting/doubling). Fajr and tafjir are like fath and taftih in both wording and meaning.

"Fruit" It is read with two fathas, two dammas, and a damma followed by a sukun. The pronoun [in thamarihi] refers to Allah the Exalted. The meaning is: that they may eat from the fruit that Allah created, and from {what their hands have wrought}—such as planting, irrigation, digging wells, and other labors until the fruit reached its maturity and time for consumption. This means the fruit itself is the act and creation of Allah, while it contains the traces of the toil of the sons of Adam. Its origin is thamarna (We produced fruit), just as He said: {And We made}, {And We caused to gush forth}. The speech shifts from the first person to the third person, following the method of iltifat (stylistic shift).

It is also possible that the pronoun refers back to the date palms, while the grapevines are left without a pronoun, as it is understood they are in the same category as date palms regarding the consumption of their fruit. It is also possible that it refers to the "fruit" mentioned, which is the gardens, as Ru'bah said: “In it are streaks of white and piebald, as if it were the vitiligo on the skin.” When he was asked about it, he said: "I meant 'as if that were...'"

You may also interpret {ma} (what) as a negation, meaning: the fruit is the creation of Allah, and the hands of people did not make it, nor are they capable of doing so.

It is read according to the first interpretation, and {ma 'amilat} (what they wrought) without a pronoun, which is how it appears in the codices of the Kufans. In the codices of the people of the Two Sanctuaries, Basra, and Sham, it includes the pronoun {azwajan} (pairs/types).

"And of what they do not know" Meaning: of pairs that Allah has not disclosed to them, and which they have not reached through any path of knowledge. It is not far-fetched that Allah the Exalted creates from the creatures—both animate and inanimate—that for which He has not provided humans a path to knowledge, because they have no need for that knowledge in their religion or their worldly life. If they had a need for it, He would have informed them of what they do not know, just as He informed them of the existence of what they do not know.

Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both) said: "He did not name them." In the Hadith: "What no eye has seen, no ear has heard, and has not crossed the heart of any human, let alone what He has disclosed to them." Thus, He informed us of its existence and His preparation of it, but did not inform us of what it is. Similar to this is: {No soul knows what has been hidden for them of comfort for eyes} (As-Sajdah: 17). In informing us of the abundance of what He has created—both what they know and what they are ignorant of—is a sign of the greatness of His power and the vastness of His dominion.

"And a sign for them is the night; We strip from it the day, and behold, they are in darkness."