65. At-Talaq (Divorce)

Medina Period 99

The Quranic Text & Ali’s Version:

اللَّهُ الَّذِي خَلَقَ سَبْعَ سَمَاوَاتٍ ...

65:12.  Allah is He Who created seven Firmaments ....

C5526. "Seven Firmaments."

Cf. 2:29; 17:44; 23:86; and 41:12. [Eds].

... وَمِنَ الْأَرْضِ مِثْلَهُنَّ ...

... and of the earth a similar number.

C5527. As there are grades one above the other in the spiritual kingdom, there are similar grades in our life on this earth. If we take the literal meaning - just as we see the heavenly spheres one above another, over our heads, so we can see that the crust of the earth is built up of geological strata one above another.  (R).

... يَتَنَزَّلُ الْأَمْرُ بَيْنَهُنَّ لِتَعْلَمُوا َنَّ اللَّهَ عَلَى كُلِّ شَيْءٍ قَدِيرٌ...

Through the midst of them (all) descends His Command: that ye may know that Allah has power over all things,

C5528. But in all spheres of life and Creation, whatever conception we are able to form of them, it is certain that the Command or Law of Allah runs through them all, for His knowledge and power extend through all things.

أ وَأَنَّ اللَّهَ قَدْ أَحَاطَ بِكُلِّ شَيْءٍ عِلْمًا ﴿١٢﴾

and that Allah comprehends all things in (His) Knowledge.

Asad’s Version:

65:12 GOD is He who has created seven heavens, 18 and, like them, [the many aspects] of the earth. Through all of them flows down from on high, unceasingly, His [creative] will," so that you might come to know that God has the power to will anything, and that God encompasses all things with His knowledge.

[[Asad’s notes - 18 See surah 1, note 20.

19 Lit., "the command". The verbal form yatanazzalu implies recurrence and continuity its combination with the noun al-amr reflects the concept of God's unceasing creative activity. ]]