91. Sura Al-Shams

The Quranic Text & Ali’s Version:

وَالسَّمَاء وَمَا بَنَاهَا ﴿٥﴾     

91:5.  By the Firmament and its (wonderful) structure;

C6150. The next contrasted pair is the wonderful firmament on high, and the earth below our feet, stretching away to our wide horizons.

The sky gives us rain, and the earth gives us food. Yet both work together; for the rain is moisture sucked up from the earth, and the food cannot grow without the heat and warmth of the sun.

There are many other contrasts under this head; yet they all point to unity.

وَالْأَرْضِ وَمَا طَحَاهَا ﴿٦﴾ 

91:6.  By the Earth and its (wide) expanse;

C6151. The ma masdariya in Arabic, in this and the subsequent clauses, is best translated in English by nouns. Thus what would literally be "and the (wonderful) making or construction of it" or "the fact of its (wonderful) construction" is, idiomatically, "its (wonderful) structure." "The (wide) spreading out" of the earth is rendered "its (wide) expanse," and so on.

Pickthall’s Version:

91: 6 And the earth and Him who spread it.

(the arabic word "tahaahaa" also means 'like eggs' ? )

[The word “tahaahaa” also conveys the act of pressing the ends of a round shape something to a more flatter shape.]

Asad’s Version:

91:5 Consider the sky and its wondrous make,³ (6) and the earth and all its expanse!

[[Asad’s note 3 - 3 Lit., "and that which has built it" - i.e., the wondrous qualities which are responsible for the harmony and coherence of the visible cosmos (which is evidently the meaning of the term sama' in this context). Similarly, the subsequent reference to the earth, which reads literally, "that which has spread it out", is apparently an allusion to the qualities responsible for the beauty and variety of its expanse. ]]