21. [al-Anbiyaa, Mecca 73]
The Quranic Text & Ali’s Version:
أَوَلَمْ
يَرَ الَّذِينَ
كَفَرُوا أَنَّ
السَّمَاوَاتِ
وَالْأَرْضَ
كَانَتَا رَتْقًا
فَفَتَقْنَاهُمَا...
21: 30. Do not the Unbelievers see that the heavens and the earth were joined together (as one unit of Creation), before We clove them asunder?
...وَجَعَلْنَا مِنَ الْمَاء كُلَّ شَيْءٍ حَيٍّ...
We made from water every living thing.
...أَفَلَا يُؤْمِنُونَ ﴿٣٠﴾
Will they not then believe?
وَجَعَلْنَا
فِي الْأَرْضِ
رَوَاسِيَ أَن
تَمِيدَ بِهِمْ...
21: 31. And We have set on the earth mountains standing firm, lest it should shake with them,
...وَجَعَلْنَا فِيهَا فِجَاجًا سُبُلًا لَعَلَّهُمْ يَهْتَدُونَ ﴿٣١﴾
and We have made therein broad highways (between mountains) for them to pass through: that they may receive guidance.
وَجَعَلْنَا
السَّمَاء
سَقْفًا مَّحْفُوظًا...
21: 32. And We have made the heavens as a canopy well-guarded:
...وَهُمْ عَنْ آيَاتِهَا مُعْرِضُونَ ﴿٣٢﴾
Yet do they turn away from the Signs which these things (point to)!
وَهُوَ
الَّذِي خَلَقَ
اللَّيْلَ
وَالنَّهَارَ
وَالشَّمْسَ
وَالْقَمَرَ...
21: 33. It is He Who created the Night and the Day, and the sun and the moon:
...كُلٌّ فِي فَلَكٍ يَسْبَحُونَ ﴿٣٣﴾
all (the celestial bodies) swim along, each in its rounded course.
Transliteration Awalam yaral lazina kafaru_ an nas sama_wa_ti wal arda ka_nata_ ratqan fafataqna_huma_ wa ja'alna_ minal ma_i kul la sai in hay afala_ yuminu_n
Other Versions:
21: 30
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[[ Ali’s notes –
C2690. The evolution of the ordered worlds as we see them is hinted at.
As man's intellectual gaze over the physical world expands, he sees more and more how Unity is the dominating note in Allah's wonderful Universe.
Taking the solar system alone, we know that the maximum intensity of sun-spots corresponds with the maximum intensity of magnetic storms on this earth. The universal law of gravitation seems to bind all mass together. Physical facts point to the throwing off of planets from vast quantities of diffused nebular matter, of which the central condensed core is a sun.
C2691. About 72 per cent, of the surface of our Globe is still covered with water, and it has been estimated that if the inequalities on the surface were all leveled, the whole surface would be under water, as the mean elevation of land sphere-level would be 7,000-10,000 feet below the surface of the ocean.
This shows the predominance of water on our Globe. That all life began in the water is also a conclusion to which our latest knowledge in biological science points. Apart from the fact that protoplasm, the original basis of living matter, is liquid or semi-liquid and in a state of constant flux and instability, there is the fact that land animals, like the higher vertebrates, including man, show, in their embryological history, organs like those of fishes, indicating the watery origin of their original habitat. The constitution of protoplasm is about 80 to 85 per cent of water.
Lest it should shake with them: here "them" refers back to "they" at the end of the preceding verse, meaning "Unbelievers".
It might be mankind in general, but the pointed address to those who do not realise and understand Allah's mercies is appropriate, to drive home to them the fact that it is Allah's well-ordered providence that protects them normally from cataclysms like earthquakes, but that they could for their iniquities be destroyed in an instant, as the 'Ad and the Thamud were destroyed before them.
As pointed out in n. 2691 above, if the surface of the earth were leveled up, it would all be under water, and therefore the firm mountains are a further source of security of life which has evolved in terrestrial forms.
Though the mountains may seem impassable barriers, yet Allah's providence has provided broad passes between them to afford highways for human communications.
C2693. In both the literal and the figurative sense. Literally these natural mountain highways direct men in the way they should go. Figuratively, these wonderful instances of Allah's providence should turn men's thoughts to the true guidance of Allah in life and spiritual progress.
C2694. Canopy well guarded: the heavens form a canopy that is secure from falling down: they also form a sublime spectacle and a Mystery that man can only faintly reach.
Cf. also 15:17.
C2695. 1 have indicated, unlike most translators, the metaphor of swimming implied in the original words: how beautiful it is to contemplate the heavenly bodies swimming through space (or ether) in their rounded courses before our gaze!]]
[[ Asad’s notes -
38 It is, as a rule, futile to make an explanation of the Qur'an dependent on "scientific findings" which may appear true today, but may equally well be disproved tomorrow by new findings. Nevertheless, the above unmistakable reference to the unitary origin of the universe - metonymically described in the Qur'an as "the heavens and the earth" - strikingly anticipates the view of almost all modern
astrophysicists that this universe has originated as one entity from one single element, namely; hydrogen, which became subsequently consolidated through gravity and then separated into individual nebulae, galaxies and solar systems, with further individual parts progressively breaking away to form new entities in the shape of stars, planets and the latters' satellites. (Regarding the Qur'anic eference to the phenomenon described by the term "expanding universe", see 51 :47
and the corresponding note 31.)
39 The statement that God "made out of water every living thing" expresses most concisely a truth that is nowadays universally accepted by science. It has a threefold meaning: (1) Water - and, specifically, the sea - was the environment within which the prototype of all living matter originated; (2) among all the innumerable - existing or conceivable - liquids, only water has the peculiar
properties necessary for the emergence and development of life; and (3) the protoplasm, which is the physical basis of every living cell - whether in plants or in animals - and represents the only form of matter in which the phenomena of life are manifested, consists overwhelmingly of water and is, thus, utterly dependent on it. Read together with the preceding statement, which alludes to the unitary origin of the physical universe, the emergence of life from and within aa equally unitary element points to the existence of a unitary plan underlying all creation and; hence, to the existence and oneness of the Creator. This accent on the oneness of God and the' unity of His creation is taken up again in verse 92 below. ]]
21: 31
Pickthall And We have placed in the earth firm hills lest it quake with them, and We have placed therein ravines as roads that haply they may find their way.
Transliteration Wa ja'alna_ fil ardi rawa_siya an tamida bihim wa ja'alna_ fiha_ fija_jan subulal la'al lahum yahtadu_n
21: 32
Pickthall And We have made the sky a roof withheld (from them). Yet they turn away from its portents.
Transliteration Wa ja'alnas sama_a saqfam mahfu_zaw wa hum an a_ya_tiha_ muridu_n
21: 33
Pickthall And He it is Who created the night and the day, and the sun and the moon. They float, each in an orbit.
Transliteration Wa huwal lazi halaqal laila wan naha_ra was samsa wal qamar kul lun fi falakiy yasbahu_n
