Sūrat al-Jāthiyah

Classification: Meccan (except for verse 14, which is Medinan). Length: 37 verses (some say 36). Chronology: Revealed after Sūrat al-Dukhān.

In the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.

1. Ḥā-Mīm.

2. The revelation of the Book is from God, the Exalted in Might, the Wise.

3. Indeed, within the heavens and the earth are signs for the believers.

4. And in your own creation, and in the creatures He disperses [throughout the earth], are signs for a people who possess certainty.

5. And in the alternation of night and day, and in what God sends down from the sky of provision—giving life thereby to the earth after its lifelessness—and in the directing of the winds, are signs for a people who use their reason.

6. These are the signs of God which We recite to you in truth. Then in what statement, after God and His signs, will they believe?

{Ḥā-Mīm} If you consider it a noun acting as a subject (mubtada’) for which “The revelation of the Book” is the predicate, then it necessitates the omission of a genitive (muḍāf). The implied meaning is: "The revelation of Ḥā-Mīm is the revelation of the Book." {From Allah} is then a connective to the "revelation." If you consider it an enumeration of letters, then {The revelation of the Book} is the subject, and the prepositional phrase is the predicate.

{Indeed, in the heavens and the earth} It is permissible for this to be taken literally, or for the meaning to be: "Indeed, in the creation of the heavens..." due to the later verse: {and in your own creation}.

If you ask: To what is {and what He disperses} conjoined? Is it to the genitive {creation} or to the pronoun to which it is attached? I say: Rather, it is to the genitive, because the pronoun to which it is attached is a connected genitive pronoun, and it is considered poor style to conjoin to it. They disliked saying: "I passed by you and Zayd" or "This is your father and Amr." Likewise, if they emphasized it, they disliked saying: "I passed by you, you, and Zayd."

It has been recited as {āyātun} (nominative) and {āyāt} (accusative), similar to saying: "Indeed, Zayd is in the house and Amr is in the market" (or "Amr is in the market").

As for the phrase {signs for a people who reason}, it involves conjunction to two governing agents (‘āmilayn), whether you use the accusative or nominative. If you use the accusative, the two agents are {inna} and {fī} (in). The wāw (and) stands in for both; it exerts the genitive case on {the alternation of night and day} and the accusative on {signs}. If you use the nominative, the two agents are the initial state (ibtidā’) and {fī}; the latter exerts the nominative on {signs} and the genitive on {the alternation}. Ibn Mas‘ūd recited it as: {And in the alternation of night and day}.

If you ask: Conjunction to two agents is sound according to al-Akhfash and beyond dispute, but Sibawayh rejected it. How, then, is the verse explained according to him? I say: He has two explanations:

1. That there is an implied {fī} (in), which is supported by its mention in the two preceding verses and by the recitation of Ibn Mas‘ūd.
2. That {signs} is in the accusative as a specification (ikhtiṣāṣ) after the genitive phrase has concluded, or by repetition. Its nominative case would be by implying "they are."

It has been recited as {wa-khtilāfu} (nominative) and as {āyatan} (singular), as well as {and what He disperses of creatures is a sign}. It has also been recited as {wa-taṣrīfi al-rīḥi} (singular).

The meaning: When the fair-minded among the servants look at the heavens and the earth with proper scrutiny, they know they are manufactured and must have a Maker, so they believe in Allah. When they look at their own creation and its transitions, and the creation of animals on earth, their faith increases and their certainty is perfected. When they look at other phenomena—the alternation of night and day, the rain and the earth’s revival, and the {shifting of the winds}—their intellects are sharpened, their knowledge solidified, and their certainty purified. Rain is called "provision" because it is the cause of provision.

{Those} This refers to the aforementioned signs; i.e., those signs are the signs of Allah.

{We recite them} This is in the state of a circumstantial qualifier (ḥāl), meaning: "recited to you in truth." The governing agent is the meaning of indication implied by {Those}. Similar to: "This is my husband, an old man." It has been recited as {yatlūhā} (in the third person).

{After Allah and His signs} Meaning: "After the signs of Allah," like their saying: "Zayd and his generosity pleased me," meaning: "Zayd’s generosity pleased me." It is also possible it means: "After the discourse of Allah," which is His Book and Quran, as in: {Allah has sent down the best of discourse} (Az-Zumar: 23). It has been recited as {yu’minūn} (they believe) in both the second and third person.

{Woe to every sinful liar * who hears the signs of Allah recited to him, then persists arrogantly as if he had not heard them. So give him tidings of a painful punishment * And when he learns anything of Our signs, he takes them in mockery. Those will have a humiliating punishment * Behind them is Hell, and what they have earned will not avail them at all, nor what they have taken besides Allah as allies. And they will have a great punishment}