Surah No. 67

Introduction
Merits of the Surah1

1. There are several reports in a variety of Hadith collections that speak of the good qualities of this Surah. However, many of them suffer weaknesses of one kind or the other. But one of them has been declared Sahih by Haythami and Dhahabi, in his notes on Mustadrak (Au.). It is as follows:
The Prophet said, “There is a Surah of the Qur’an, no more than thirty verses long, that will argue in favor of anyone (who knew it) until it will usher him into Paradise. It is Surah Tabarak” (Qurtubi, Shawkani).
The above report is also in Abu Da’ud, Tirmidhi, Ibn Majah and Nasa’i (S. Ibrahim).

بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ تَبَارَكَ الَّذِي بِيَدِهِ الْمُلْكُ وَهُوَ عَلَىٰ كُلِّ شَيْءٍ قَدِيرٌ (1)

(67:1) Blessed is He2 in whose hand is the dominion, and He has power over all things.3

2. “Tabaraka” has its root in “baraka.” In this form it means,
“Increase, growth, abundance, and expanse. That is, increase that can be earned and attained through His remembrance. (The meaning is also) stated as ‘He achieved greatness (by Himself),’ as well as, ‘consecrated,’ which is equivalent of saying ‘became (or is) holy.’”
Majid quotes: “Tabaraka Allah: God has made Himself (is become of and through Himself) blessed, perfect, above all (WGAL. I. p. 39).”

3. Sometimes a question is asked: If God has power over all things, has He the power to destroy Himself? The questioners do not understand that God is a Necessary Being. That is, the world cannot be explained without Him. If there was no God, there would be no world. The question about who created this world, and then, who created its creator, will go on in a vicious circle. To break that circle, one has to stop at one point and say, “this One” created all. If it is suggested that “this one” could have been created by “that One” then “this one” is automatically a created being, and “that One” becomes the Creator. And, without “that Creator” there would be no created world.
We might quote from our own writing in the Educational Encyclopedia of Islam:
“... To the question concerning matter, as to where it came from, and, indeed, why it came into existence at all, since it could as well have not existed, those who deny God, have no answer. Muslim scholars have offered an answer which appeals to reason. We may quote here from a recent work, The Non-existence of God, by Nicholas Everitt, (Routledge, London and New York, 2004):
“Craig continues that we may plausibly argue that the cause of the universe is a ‘personal being’ (by which he means a being capable of free choice) (ibid. p.64). For we need an explanation of why the universe began to exist when it did, rather than earlier or later. The ‘plausible argument’ which he in fact invokes for saying that the cause must be a personal one is ‘an Islamic principle of determination’, according to which ‘when two different states of affairs are equally possible and one results, this realization of one rather than the other must be the result of a personal agent who freely chooses one rather than the other.’” (Sandage and Tammam, quoted in Craig and Smith 1995: 43).
God being the Necessary Being also implies that God did not create Himself. This in turn implies that God cannot be destroyed. Terms like “created” and “creations” are for human reference. When it is asked, e.g., what are human beings, or trees, or stars, the answer will be “created beings” - Allah being their Creator. The meanings and implications behind these terms cannot be applied to Allah, except to say that, with reference to the creations, He is the Creator. This Quality of His, is above the act of creation, and a part of His Being. That is, He remains a Creator, even if He did not create.
From another perspective, what is created (by an agency), cannot destroy itself. E.g. matter cannot destroy itself. Why? because it did not create itself. Another matter cannot destroy it; because that other matter did not create it. Matter can be forced into another form, because Allah ruled it that such a thing should be possible; but it cannot be given non-existence. No one but its creator can destroy it. He knows how He brought it into existence, and, therefore, He knows how to reduce it to non-existence.
Now, God is a Necessary Being. He was always there. He was not created by another. In fact, logically, He could not have been created by another. (He did not give birth, nor was given birth: Surah 112). If He had been created by another, He could be destroyed by that creating agency. But God was not given birth, nor can He die. To be Living is His Necessity Quality, which cannot be separated from Him. He is eternal, and His Qualities are eternal (Au.).

الَّذِي خَلَقَ الْمَوْتَ وَالْحَيَاةَ لِيَبْلُوَكُمْ أَيُّكُمْ أَحْسَنُ عَمَلًا ۚ وَهُوَ الْعَزِيزُ الْغَفُورُ (2)

(67:2) He who created death4 and life so that He might test you5 as to which of you is best in deed;6 and He is the All-mighty, the All-forgiving.

4. Majid comments: “This corrects and contradicts the Jewish view, ‘God created man to be immortal … nevertheless through envy of the devil came death into the world. For God made no death.’ (JE. IV p. 483).”
Discussing old age and death, a scientist writes in desperation, “It would be pleasant to eliminate the pains and discomforts of old age, but ought we to create a species consisting of the old, the tired, the bored, the same, and never allow for the new and better?”
“Perhaps the prospect of immortality is worse than the prospect of death.” (Asimov’s New Guide to Science, p. 695).
Thus, death is a created being (Ibn Kathir). Imam Razi adds that its annihilation on the Judgment Day, brought on in the form of a fat ram and slaughtered, will be merely to impress upon the people that neither will they die in Hell, nor in Heaven; in short, shall remain immortal.
Noticeably, death has been mentioned before life perhaps because lifelessness precedes the cycle of life and death (Au).

5. Majid writes: “In the words of a distinguished scientist, ‘death came that life may be worth living.’”

6. Note the words “best in deed” and not “more in deed” (Mufti Shaf`). It is the correctness of a deed that gives it an intrinsic value which is multiplied by the quantity. If the intrinsic value is zero, the sum of large quantities of good deeds is zero (Au.).

الَّذِي خَلَقَ سَبْعَ سَمَاوَاتٍ طِبَاقًا ۖ مَا تَرَىٰ فِي خَلْقِ الرَّحْمَٰنِ مِنْ تَفَاوُتٍ ۖ فَارْجِعِ الْبَصَرَ هَلْ تَرَىٰ مِنْ فُطُورٍ (3)

(67:3) He who created the seven heavens one over another.7 You will not see in the creation of the All-compassionate any inconsistency.8 So, return your gaze, do you see any fissure?9

7. They are seven heavens, one upon another, but separate, with the distance of 500 years between them, as stated in a hadith (Ibn Kathir).
The seven heavens concept is entirely Qur’anic. The Torah and the Gospels do not mention the number of heavens. The Gospel of Barnabas speaks of nine heavens. But curiously the concept of 500 years distance between one firmament and another is mentioned in this Gospel: “Verily I say unto thee that the heavens are nine, among which are set the planets, that are distant one from another five hundred years’ journey for a man; and the earth in like manner is distant from the first heaven five hundred years’ journey” (Section 178) – Au.

8. Majid quotes: “But the more it (reason) knows, the more grounds it finds for confidence that the appearance of capriciousness is due only to its ignorance. Nature, it grows to believe, is, in this sense, rational through and through, that it corresponds to this fundamental demand of reason for law and order in all things. This faith in a universal order – a faith continually more and more fully justified – is what makes science possible.”

9. The scientists refer to this phenomenon of non-inconsistency or lack of a detectable fissure, as the “problem of homogeneity.” That is, at the super-cluster level, the universe seems to be homogenous; no matter where you look, the image is the same. And this homogeneity is a problem. If the big bang theory is correct, matter should be scattered in an odd manner. But it is not so. Why? There is no satisfactory answer yet (Au.).

ثُمَّ ارْجِعِ الْبَصَرَ كَرَّتَيْنِ يَنْقَلِبْ إِلَيْكَ الْبَصَرُ خَاسِئًا وَهُوَ حَسِيرٌ (4)

(67:4) Then return your gaze again, and again, the sight returns to you humbled, and it is aweary.10

10. That is, any defect. Science in the meanwhile, seems to have lost its moorings. It is in no position to say anything in definite about time, space, or even the physical universe. While the Qur’an gave us the concept of seven firmaments, science is now asking us to believe in infinite universes. Today’s high-profile scientific language is weirder than that of the Sufis of the past. A recent book from a prize-winning scientist should give some idea of the ideas floating among the scientists about the realities of existence. He is considered to be moderate. Other scientists discuss ideas that he too would consider weird. We present key points picked up from his work The Goldilocks Enigma, Paul Davies, Allen Lane Publications, 2006:
(a) The universe began with a hot big bang 13.7 billion years ago, and is still expanding. The expansion is best envisaged as the stretching of space between the galaxies. (p.55)
(b) The universe has no discernible centre or edge. (p.55)
(c) Even though space is warped locally, by stars and galaxies, overall the geometry of the universe seems to be flat (Euclidean). Einstein’s general theory of relativity then predicts that the universe should have zero mass: the positive mass-energy of matter is exactly cancelled by the negative mass-energy of the gravitational field of all the matter in the universe. (p.55). [We might remind that so far, in the observable world, billions of galaxies have been sighted containing 1080 atoms: Au.].
(d) There may be additional dimensions of space over and above the three we perceive. Some theories of physics require this. Extra dimension can be concealed from view, for example by rolling them up to a tiny size. (p.55)
(e) The big bang may or may not have been the ultimate origin of the universe. If it was, then time and space did not exist before the big bang. Cosmologists have attempted to explain scientifically the origin of the universe from nothing (no time, no space, no matter) by appealing to quantum mechanics. The resulting subject of quantum cosmology is exciting, but not rigorous. (p.97). [By saying, “not rigorous” he means, the theory is not scientifically satisfactory].
(f) If the big bang was not the ultimate origin of the universe, the question arises of what came before it. In a currently popular theory known as eternal inflation, our universe is just one ‘bubble’ of expanding space among many, and big bangs occur throughout time in the wider ‘superstructure’. Taking a god’s-eye view, most of space is inflating at a fantastic rate, and the ‘bubbles’ or pocket universes, emerge spontaneously from this as a result of quantum processes. (p.97)
(g) Eternal inflation is one mechanism for generating a multiplicity, or ensemble, of universes. Known collectively as a multiverse. Individual universes within the multiverse could be very different from one another. Only a small fraction might be fit for life. (p.97-98)
(h) Most of the universe is made of something that is still not identified. Ordinary matter (billions of galaxies: Au.) makes up just a few percent. (p.145)
(i) Dark matter is probably made of heavy, weakly interacting particles coughed out of the big bang in profusion. (p.145)
(j) Our universe may be a fragment of a vast (probably infinite) and heterogeneous system called the multiverse. The other ‘universes’, or cosmic regions, may be observationally inaccessible to us. Their existence would be inferred from theory plus some direct evidence. (p. 215)
(k) The laws of physics and the initial state of the universe could vary from one ‘universe’ to another. What we have taken to be absolute laws might be more akin to local by-laws, with key features, including those relevant to life, which ‘froze’ out of the big bang in the first split-second. (p.215-216)
(l) Some (science: Au.) philosophers argue that simulated universes (e.g. virtual reality run on gigantic computers) may be possible. Multiverses might then include simulated as well as real universes. Some simplistic calculations hint that the fakes may greatly outnumber the real ones, so we could be living in a simulation. (p. 216)
How befitting then the words, “Then return your gaze again, and again, the sight returns to you humbled, and it is aweary” (Au.)

وَلَقَدْ زَيَّنَّا السَّمَاءَ الدُّنْيَا بِمَصَابِيحَ وَجَعَلْنَاهَا رُجُومًا لِلشَّيَاطِينِ ۖ وَأَعْتَدْنَا لَهُمْ عَذَابَ السَّعِيرِ (5)

(67:5) We have indeed adorned thenearest heaven with lamps, and have made them missiles for the Shayateen;11 and have prepared for them a blazing chastisement.

11. Zamakhsari of the 12th Christian century writes: That is, the Devils (who try to fly beyond the limits set for them) are struck with meteorites that are drawn from the stars. It is not the stars themselves that are cast at them. These stars are bodies by themselves.
The word meteorite might or might not be the right term. All that the Qur’an is saying is that when the devils try to cross a certain boundary drawn for them in space, in order to gain a hearing of what goes on in the first firmament, they are pelted with heavenly burning bodies. The nature of the burning bodies has not been described (Au.).

وَلِلَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا بِرَبِّهِمْ عَذَابُ جَهَنَّمَ ۖ وَبِئْسَ الْمَصِيرُ (6)

(67:6) As for those who have disbelieved in their Lord, for them is the chastisement of Jahannum; an evil homecoming.

إِذَا أُلْقُوا فِيهَا سَمِعُوا لَهَا شَهِيقًا وَهِيَ تَفُورُ (7)

(67:7) When they are cast therein, they will hear it drawing in its breath, while it boils.

تَكَادُ تَمَيَّزُ مِنَ الْغَيْظِ ۖ كُلَّمَا أُلْقِيَ فِيهَا فَوْجٌ سَأَلَهُمْ خَزَنَتُهَا أَلَمْ يَأْتِكُمْ نَذِيرٌ (8)

(67:8) It would all but burst asunder in rage. Every time a group is cast into it, its keepers ask, ‘Had not come to you a warner?’

قَالُوا بَلَىٰ قَدْ جَاءَنَا نَذِيرٌ فَكَذَّبْنَا وَقُلْنَا مَا نَزَّلَ اللَّهُ مِنْ شَيْءٍ إِنْ أَنْتُمْ إِلَّا فِي ضَلَالٍ كَبِيرٍ (9)

(67:9) They will reply, ‘Yes indeed, a warner had in fact come to us. But we cried lies and said, “Allah has not sent down anything. You are only in a great misguidance.”’

وَقَالُوا لَوْ كُنَّا نَسْمَعُ أَوْ نَعْقِلُ مَا كُنَّا فِي أَصْحَابِ السَّعِيرِ (10)

(67:10) They will also say, ‘If only we had listened and understood, we would not have been among the companions of the blaze.’12

12. Asad writes: “Reason, properly used, must lead man to a cognition of God’s existence and, thus, of the fact that a definite plan underlies all His creation. A logical concomitant of that cognition is the realization that certain aspects of the divine plan touching upon human life – in particular, the distinction between right and wrong – are continuously disclosed to man through the medium of the revelation which God bestows on His chosen message-bearers, the prophets. This innate “bond with God” (referred to in 2: 27 and explained in the corresponding note 19) may be broken only at the expense of man’s spiritual future, with suffering in life to come as the inevitable alternative.”

فَاعْتَرَفُوا بِذَنْبِهِمْ فَسُحْقًا لِأَصْحَابِ السَّعِيرِ (11)

(67:11) Thus they will confess their sin; so away with the people of the blaze.

إِنَّ الَّذِينَ يَخْشَوْنَ رَبَّهُمْ بِالْغَيْبِ لَهُمْ مَغْفِرَةٌ وَأَجْرٌ كَبِيرٌ (12)

(67:12) Surely those who feared their Lord in the Unseen,13 they shall have forgiveness and a great reward.

13. The words, “in the Unseen” have two connotations: (i) They have not seen Allah, but they fear Him out of awe and, influenced by it, restrain themselves from sin. (ii) They fear Him in their private, and remember Him with hopes and fears (Shabbir).

وَأَسِرُّوا قَوْلَكُمْ أَوِ اجْهَرُوا بِهِ ۖ إِنَّهُ عَلِيمٌ بِذَاتِ الصُّدُورِ (13)

(67:13) And, whether you keep secret your word or say it aloud, He is indeed the Knower of what is in the breasts.

أَلَا يَعْلَمُ مَنْ خَلَقَ وَهُوَ اللَّطِيفُ الْخَبِيرُ (14)

(67:14) Should He not know who created, while He is the All-subtle, the All-aware?

هُوَ الَّذِي جَعَلَ لَكُمُ الْأَرْضَ ذَلُولًا فَامْشُوا فِي مَنَاكِبِهَا وَكُلُوا مِنْ رِزْقِهِ ۖ وَإِلَيْهِ النُّشُورُ (15)

(67:15) It is He who made the earth humbled to you, therefore, walk about in its tracts and eat out of His provision: to Him is the resurrection.

أَأَمِنْتُمْ مَنْ فِي السَّمَاءِ أَنْ يَخْسِفَ بِكُمُ الْأَرْضَ فَإِذَا هِيَ تَمُورُ (16)

(67:16) Do you feel secure from He who is in the heavens14 that He should make the land swallow you, the while it rocks?

14. Although the allusion by “He in the heaven” apparently appears to be to Allah, Zamakhshari, Razi, and Qurtubi do not rule out that the allusion could be to Jibril who brings down chastisements when commissioned by Allah.
As for Allah, He was there before anything was there. It is He who created time and space and hence is above and beyond time and space. (As to where is He located now, the question is absurd). Qurtubi writes:
He created space, without needing it. He was ever there, before the creation of time and space so that He is not bound to time and space. And now He is as He was (before anything was created).

أَمْ أَمِنْتُمْ مَنْ فِي السَّمَاءِ أَنْ يُرْسِلَ عَلَيْكُمْ حَاصِبًا ۖ فَسَتَعْلَمُونَ كَيْفَ نَذِيرِ (17)

(67:17) Or, do you feel secure that He who is in the heaven should send against you a pebble-storm, then you would surely know how was My warning.

وَلَقَدْ كَذَّبَ الَّذِينَ مِنْ قَبْلِهِمْ فَكَيْفَ كَانَ نَكِيرِ (18)

(67:18) Those that went before them did cry lies, so, how was My reproach!?15

15. “The security that is denied to man by these verses, is different from the peace that a believer enjoys. The security denied here is the insecurity which grows in man because of his heedlessness of Allah, His Powers and His forces. It is not that ‘peace of heart’ or ‘tranquility’ that arises from belief in Allah, doing His bidding, and dependence on His mercy, which is alluded to here. This, other sense of peace, does not lead man to heedlessness, or to try and make the best of this material life, but rather leads to a conscious effort to avoid provoking Allah’s anger, and taking up measures to safeguard oneself against what will displease Him. Imam Ahmad has recorded `A’isha as having said, ‘I never saw the Prophet laugh out boisterously; the kind of laugh that would reveal all his teeth. He would only smile.’ She also said that when it was windy or cloudy, the effects could be seen on his face. Once she asked him, ‘Messenger of Allah. When people see the clouds they rejoice for the hope that they carry rains within them. But when I look at your face, I get to feel that you do not sort of like it?’ He answered, ‘O `A’isha, what will give me the assurance that punishment is not concealed in them. A past nation was punished by the winds. Another people saw the clouds and said, “This is a cloud that will bring us rains.”’
“The above portrays the sense and sensitivity, wakefulness and ever-watchfulness of Allah and His powers. It does not deny the peace the heart enjoys from its belief in Allah’s mercy and bounty.
“Moreover, all external causes lead to a single primary Cause, and the affairs return to the hands of Him in whose hands is the dominion, and who has power over all things. So, the sinking of the earth, or sand storms, volcanoes, earthquakes, tornadoes and all the forces of nature: human hands have no power over any of them. It is Allah who controls them. All that the humans can do is to conjecture, theorize and explain their occurrence, but they have no say in their happening, nor can save themselves from them and their effects. All that they build on the earth is wiped out by the calamities in one stroke, as if they were pawns on a paper turned over. Therefore, it is best for humans that they should turn their attention from them to their Creator and Regulator, of the laws that govern and control them. They should face up to the heaven and remind themselves of Him who has true dominion and who has power over all things.
“Man is powerful, but within the limits granted to him. He knows a lot, but to the extent knowledge is extended to him. But the universe he lives in is frighteningly too large, too vast and too complicated for him. Its control is in the hands of its Creator. The laws employed have been brought to existence by Him. The forces of nature are in accordance with what is designed by Him. These forces act according to the laws put in place by Him. What man has received of the powers are a measured quantity, and what man learns of them is a quantity pre-determined. On the other hand, the events that occur day and night, place man before them hand-shackled, hopelessly armed to face them. What is it he can do except to be reminded of his Lord and His powers?
“But when man forgets this reality, is deceived and becomes a victim of vanity because of what little knowledge and powers that Allah has given him, he becomes a distorted being, cut off from true knowledge that could have raised his soul up to the heavens. He remains earth-bound, disconnected from the true spirit of life and existence; while the knowledgeable believer plunges into the beautiful spectacle of life and existence, reaching out to the Originator of life: a joy that no one understands but he who experiences it” (Sayyid).

أَوَلَمْ يَرَوْا إِلَى الطَّيْرِ فَوْقَهُمْ صَافَّاتٍ وَيَقْبِضْنَ ۚ مَا يُمْسِكُهُنَّ إِلَّا الرَّحْمَٰنُ ۚ إِنَّهُ بِكُلِّ شَيْءٍ بَصِيرٌ (19)

(67:19) Have they not regarded the birds above them, outspreading the wings and folding (them) in? None holds them (aloft) except the All-merciful; surely He is the Watcher of all things.

أَمَّنْ هَٰذَا الَّذِي هُوَ جُنْدٌ لَكُمْ يَنْصُرُكُمْ مِنْ دُونِ الرَّحْمَٰنِ ۚ إِنِ الْكَافِرُونَ إِلَّا فِي غُرُورٍ (20)

(67:20) Or, who is it that is your force that can help you, apart from the All-merciful? The unbelievers are only in a delusion.

أَمَّنْ هَٰذَا الَّذِي يَرْزُقُكُمْ إِنْ أَمْسَكَ رِزْقَهُ ۚ بَلْ لَجُّوا فِي عُتُوٍّ وَنُفُورٍ (21)

(67:21) Or, who is it that could provide for you if He held back His provision? Nay, but they persist in insolence and aversion.

أَفَمَنْ يَمْشِي مُكِبًّا عَلَىٰ وَجْهِهِ أَهْدَىٰ أَمَّنْ يَمْشِي سَوِيًّا عَلَىٰ صِرَاطٍ مُسْتَقِيمٍ (22)

(67:22) Is he then who trudges fallen on his face,16 better guided or he who walks upright on a straight path?17

16. That is, someone who moves forward, face down, without looking right or left, or in front of him (Qurtubi).
Literally, “walks” as the word in the text is “yamshi”. If applied to the Hereafter, the following hadith may be quoted, as in Ibn Jarir, for explanation. (We find it in Tirmidhi: Au.):
The Prophet said, “People will be raised on the Day of Standing as three kinds: a kind that will be on foot, a second kind that will be mounted and a third that will be on their faces.” He was asked, “Messenger of Allah, how will they walk on their faces?” He answered, “He who made them walk on their feet, has the power to make them walk on their faces. Indeed, they will be maneuvering every mound and clearing every thorn with their faces.”
Tirmidhi classified the above as a kind of weak hadith, but Dhahabi declared it Sahih in his critical re-examination of Hakim’s Mustadrak.

17. “… (This is) a metaphor of the spiritual obtuseness which prevents a person from caring for anything beyond his immediate, worldly concern, and thus makes him resemble an earthworm that ‘goes along prone upon its face’” (Asad).

قُلْ هُوَ الَّذِي أَنْشَأَكُمْ وَجَعَلَ لَكُمُ السَّمْعَ وَالْأَبْصَارَ وَالْأَفْئِدَةَ ۖ قَلِيلًا مَا تَشْكُرُونَ (23)

(67:23) Say, ‘He it is who produced you and made for you hearing, sights and consciousness; little it is that you give thanks.’

قُلْ هُوَ الَّذِي ذَرَأَكُمْ فِي الْأَرْضِ وَإِلَيْهِ تُحْشَرُونَ (24)

(67:24) Say, ‘He it is who scattered you in the earth and to Him you will be mustered.’

وَيَقُولُونَ مَتَىٰ هَٰذَا الْوَعْدُ إِنْ كُنْتُمْ صَادِقِينَ (25)

(67:25) They ask, ‘When will this promise come to pass, if you should you be truthful?’18

18. “In the first preaching of Islam,” (writes Majid), ‘the announcement of the Day of Judgment is much more prominent than the Unity of God; and it was against His revelations concerning Doomsday that the opponents directed their satire during the first twelve years. It was not love of their half-dead gods but anger at (someone) who was never tired of telling them, in the other world they would be outcasts, which opened the floodgates of irony and scorn against Muhammad’ (Hurgronje, Mohammedanism, p. 34).”

قُلْ إِنَّمَا الْعِلْمُ عِنْدَ اللَّهِ وَإِنَّمَا أَنَا نَذِيرٌ مُبِينٌ (26)

(67:26) Say, ‘The knowledge is with Allah alone, and I am merely a plain warner.’

فَلَمَّا رَأَوْهُ زُلْفَةً سِيئَتْ وُجُوهُ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا وَقِيلَ هَٰذَا الَّذِي كُنْتُمْ بِهِ تَدَّعُونَ (27)

(67:27) But when they see it close at hand, grief-stricken will become the faces of those who disbelieved and it will be said, ‘This is that which you were seeking.’19

19. The reference here is to the pagans’ audacious demands worded by the Qur’an elsewhere as (8: 32):
“When they said, ‘O God, if this happens to be the Truth from You, then rain down upon us stones from the heaven or bring upon us a painful chastisement” (Ibn Jarir, Qurtubi).

قُلْ أَرَأَيْتُمْ إِنْ أَهْلَكَنِيَ اللَّهُ وَمَنْ مَعِيَ أَوْ رَحِمَنَا فَمَنْ يُجِيرُ الْكَافِرِينَ مِنْ عَذَابٍ أَلِيمٍ (28)

(67:28) Say, 'Have you considered, if Allah were to destroy me and those with me, or showed us mercy, who can protect the unbelievers from a painful chastisement?20

20. That is, your punishment is dead certain. It little matters to you what happens to us Muslims. Instead of waiting for a catastrophe falling on us, you better worry about your own destiny (Au., with a point from Qurtubi).

قُلْ هُوَ الرَّحْمَٰنُ آمَنَّا بِهِ وَعَلَيْهِ تَوَكَّلْنَا ۖ فَسَتَعْلَمُونَ مَنْ هُوَ فِي ضَلَالٍ مُبِينٍ (29)

(67:29) Say, 'He is the All-merciful in whom we have believed and upon Whom we have placed our trust;21 assuredly you will soon know who is in a manifest error.'

21. That is, it is the All-merciful in whom we have believed and in whom we place our trust. It does not seem very likely that He will destroy us (Au.).

قُلْ أَرَأَيْتُمْ إِنْ أَصْبَحَ مَاؤُكُمْ غَوْرًا فَمَنْ يَأْتِيكُمْ بِمَاءٍ مَعِينٍ (30)

(67:30) Say, 'Have you considered, if your water were to go deep down, who will then bring you flowing water?'22

22. Asad comments: “Apart from a further reminder of God’s providential power (thus continuing with the argument touched upon in verses 19-21), the above verse has a parabolic significance as well. Just as water is an indispensible element of all organic life, so is a constant flow of moral consciousness an indispensible prerequisite of all spiritual life and stability: and who but God could enable man to regain that consciousness after the older ethical values have dried up and ‘vanished underground.’”
Groundwater
The liquid water in the form of lakes, ponds, rivers, streams, springs and puddles is merely 1.5 percent of earth’s fresh (drinkable) water. The other 98.5% resides in porous regions beneath the earth’s surface. The ground beneath our feet normally consists of what the geologists call as the unsaturated zone, anything between 0 to perhaps a few hundred feet deep, followed by a saturated layer where water collects and stays. To get water, humans have to dig beyond the unsaturated zone to strike at the water table under it. The point at which water is struck in such quantities as which can be drawn up, is known as the water table. A water table itself can be, depending on the soil, several hundred feet deep from the point of start. The depth of the water level from the surface, (through the unsaturated zone) varies. In times of drought it goes down, to rise up when there have been good rains. But water is always there. The water level of most ponds and lakes is the water level below the ground surface adjacent to it. In short, the ground around a lake, for example, has water underneath the surface, to the same level as the level of water in the lake. In other words, the land around is sitting on a water table – a kind of an island.
Where large tracts of water are found under the ground, the area is called aquifer. Half of the United States is said to have aquifer below the land. One such aquifer is said to stretch from South Dakota to Texas and from Colorado to Arkansas (roughly the size of Arabia). This is Allah’s gift. If the water level in the aquifers was to go down, or the aquifers disappear, helpless humans above will have to move out or perish.
An amazing thing about the water table below is that the water level seems to follow the land level above, rising, where the land rises to form mounds, hills and mountains, and falling where the land falls forming depressions, valleys, through and through the downward gradient. Thus, digging, say to a depth of 400 feet can yield water at any place over a stretch of land consisting of hills as well as valleys. In other words, if one can dig say 400 feet deep to obtain water in a valley, then, water can also be reached by digging roughly to the same 400 feet depth on say a 1000 feet high hill in the same vicinity. Had water settled to its natural way of leveling off, then, those at the top of the hill would not have been able to obtain any water unless they dug 1400 feet. This is by Allah’s grace, mentioned in the verse.
Then there are huge clay pots, or basins below the surface of the earth, which catch water coming down from the top, but, which retain it in their hollow, not allowing it to move down further. These hollow pots too, explain the water wells on top of mountains. E.g., on top of a mountain hill say 3000 feet high, wells, not very deep, yield drinking water serving the needs of the settlers on top. This is because of the clay bowl or pots that retain water. Without these clay bowls or pots, arranged by Allah Most High, there would be no water, springs, beautiful trees covering the mountains, and no human habitation over them (Au.).