Tafheem ul Quran

Surah 39 Az-Zumar, Ayat 21-21

اَلَمۡ تَرَ اَنَّ اللّٰهَ اَنۡزَلَ مِنَ السَّمَآءِ مَآءً فَسَلَـكَهٗ يَنَابِيۡعَ فِى الۡاَرۡضِ ثُمَّ يُخۡرِجُ بِهٖ زَرۡعًا مُّخۡتَلِفًا اَ لۡوَانُهٗ ثُمَّ يَهِيۡجُ فَتَـرٰٮهُ مُصۡفَرًّا ثُمَّ يَجۡعَلُهٗ حُطَامًا​ ؕ اِنَّ فِىۡ ذٰ لِكَ لَذِكۡرٰى لِاُولِى الۡاَلۡبَابِ‏ ﴿39:21﴾

(39:21) Do you not see that Allah sent down water from the sky, then made it flow on earth as springs and streams and rivers38 and then with it He brings forth vegetation of various hues; then this vegetation ripens and dries up, turning yellow, whereafter He reduces it to broken straw? Surely there is a lesson in this for those endowed with understanding.39

Notes

38. The word yanaabi in the text is comprehensive and applies to all the three sources of water.

39. That is, a man of understanding learns this lesson from it that the life of this world and its adornments are all transitory. The end of every spring is autumn. The fate of every youth is weakness and death. And every rise has a fall. Therefore, this world is not something of which one should be charmed and enamored so as to forget God and the Hereafter and should conduct himself here in a manner as to ruin his Hereafter, only for the sake of enjoying the short lived pleasures of this world. Then a man of understanding also learns this lesson from these phenomena that the spring and autumn of this world are only under Allah’s control. Allah allows to grow and prosper whomsoever He wills and ruins and lays waste whomsoever He wills. Neither it is in anybody’s power to stop the growth of someone whom Allah wills to grow, nor has anyone the power to save him from destruction whom Allah wills to destroy.