Tafsir of Ash-Shura 42:11

{The Originator of the heavens} It is read in the nominative (rafʿ) and the genitive (jarr). The nominative is because it is one of the predicates of "That is" (dhalikum), or the predicate of an omitted subject. The genitive is based on: "His judgment is to Allah, the Originator of the heavens."

{That is} (Ash-Shura: 10) through {turn back} (Ash-Shura: 10) is an interpolation between the adjective and the noun described.

{He made for you} He created for you.

{From among yourselves} From your own species, from mankind.

{Pairs, and of the cattle pairs} Meaning: He created pairs from the cattle as well. Its meaning is: He created for the cattle, too, pairs from among themselves.

{He multiplies you therein} He increases your numbers. It is said: "Allah dhara (scattered/created) the creation," meaning He spread them and increased them. Dharra, dharw, and dhar’ are synonymous.

{Therein} In this arrangement—which is that He made pairs for humans and cattle, such that procreation and reproduction occurred between their males and females. The pronoun in {multiplies you} refers to the addressees and the cattle, with the rational addressees taking precedence over the non-rational absent ones.

If you ask: What is the meaning of "He multiplies you therein (in this arrangement)?" And why was it not said: "He multiplies you by it (bihi)?"

I say: He made this arrangement like a source and a mine for spreading and increasing. Do you not see that you say: "For animals, there is increase in the creation of pairs," just as the Almighty said: {And there is life for you in legal retribution} (Al-Baqarah: 179)?

They say: "Someone like you does not act stingily," thereby denying stinginess from someone like him, while they intend to deny it from his own essence. They intend hyperbole in that, so they follow the path of metonymy (kinayah). For when they deny it from someone who occupies his position and possesses his most specific attributes, they have effectively denied it from him.

An example of this is your saying to an Arab: "The Arabs do not break covenants," which is more eloquent than saying: "You do not break covenants." From this is their saying: "His peers have reached maturity," intending his own maturity. In the hadith of Ruqayqah bint Sayfi regarding the rain-prayer of Abd al-Muttalib: "Among them is the pure and clean one, whose peers are pure and clean," intending his own purity and cleanliness.

Once it is known that it is a matter of metonymy, there is no difference between His saying: "There is nothing like Allah," and His saying: {There is nothing like unto Him} (Ash-Shura: 11), except for the benefit provided by the metonymy. It is as if they are two expressions alternating for the same meaning: the negation of likeness from His essence.

Similar to this is His saying, the Almighty: {Rather, both His hands are extended} (Al-Ma'idah: 64). Its meaning is: Rather, He is generous, without the conceptualization of a hand or the extension of one. For they have used it as an expression for generosity, intending nothing else, to the point that they use it for one who has no hand. Likewise, this is used for one who has a likeness and one who has no likeness.

You may also claim that the particle of comparison (ka) was repeated for emphasis, just as it was repeated by the one who said: And roasting stones, like as they are set as a tripod. And the one who said: And it became like as chaff eaten.

{To Him belong the keys of the heavens and the earth. He extends provision for whom He wills and restricts [it]. Indeed He is, of all things, Knowing.}