31. Surah Luqman
Mecca Period [57]
The Quranic Text & Ali’s Version:
خَلَقَ
السَّمَاوَاتِ
بِغَيْرِ عَمَدٍ
تَرَوْنَهَا...
31: 10. He created the heavens without any pillars that ye can see;
...وَأَلْقَى فِي الْأَرْضِ رَوَاسِيَ أَن تَمِيدَ بِكُمْ...
He set on the earth mountains standing firm, lest it should shake with you;
...وَبَثَّ فِيهَا مِن كُلِّ دَابَّةٍ...
and He scattered through it beasts of all kinds.
...وَأَنزَلْنَا مِنَ السَّمَاء مَاء ...
We send down rain from the sky,
C3590. Note the change of the pronoun at this stage in the verse.
Before this, Allah was spoken of in the third person, "He", and the acts of Creation referred to were acts that in the main were completed when the universe as we see it came into being, though its slow age-long evolution continues.
After this, Allah speaks in the first person "We" the plural of honor, as explained before (see n. 56 to 2:38); and the processes spoken of are those that go on continually before us, as in the case of rain and the growth of the vegetable kingdom.
In some way the creation of the heavens and the earth and animal life on it may be considered impersonal to man, while the processes of rain and vegetation may be considered in special personal relationship to him.
... فَأَنبَتْنَا فِيهَا مِن كُلِّ زَوْجٍ كَرِيمٍ ﴿١٠﴾
and produce on the earth every kind of noble creature, in pairs.
C3591. I think that sex life in plants is referred to, as in 13:3, where see n. 1804, though the pairs here may refer to animals also.
"Noble" (karim) may refer to the more beneficent plants and trees (and animals), which Allah has created for man's use.
Asad’s Version:
(31:10) He [it is who] has created the skies without any supports that you could see, 7 and has placed firm mountains upon the earth, lest it sway with you, 8 and has caused all manner of living creatures to multiply thereon. And We' send down water from the skies, and thus We cause every noble kind [of life] to grow on earth. 10
[[ Asad’s note -
7 See note 4 on 13:2.
8 See note 11 on 16:15.
9 This is another of the many Qur'anic instances where the personal pronoun relating to God is suddenly changed - in this instance, from "He" to "We" - in order to indicate that God, being infinite, cannot be circumscribed by any pronoun applicable to created, finite beings, and that the use of such pronouns with reference to Him is no more than a concession to the limited nature of every human language.
10 Lit., "thereon". As in 26:7, the term zawi has here the significance of "a kind". ]]