Sūrat an-Naḥl
Section 8 of 17 · Surah Studies · Mufti Abdul Rahman Mangera
The Qur'an Is for Engagement
There is one thing to be realised, of which many of us who do not understand Arabic are deprived, and that is engagement with the Qur'an. We read it, and that is all. We listen to it and take pleasure in it, and that is all. The Qur'an is for engagement.
Consider only the way Allah (swt) begins this sūrah:
أَتَىٰٓ أَمْرُ ٱللَّهِ فَلَا تَسْتَعْجِلُوهُ ۚ سُبْحَـٰنَهُۥ وَتَعَـٰلَىٰ عَمَّا يُشْرِكُونَ
“Allah’s command has (almost) come. So, do not demand that it should come sooner. Pure is He, and much higher than their ascribing partners to Him.” (16:1)
Atā amru Allāh: the command of Allah has come. Fa-lā tastaʿjilūh: do not seek to hasten Him. It is direct address, not speech about a third person. Direct address. And that is why it is said that in it are signs for people who think. If we do not read this and understand it, are we then among those who think? How are we to benefit from it? Unless one has a tafsīr in another language, which is understandable enough.
Then Allah (swt) speaks of the night and the day, and of the sun and the moon, and of the stars, and again says that there is a sign in it for people who understand. And of whatever Allah has spread abroad: in verse 13 Allah says that whatever He has spread upon the earth for you, full of different colours, in all its variety of colour, is again a sign for people who remember and who remind themselves.
وَمَا ذَرَأَ لَكُمْ فِى ٱلْأَرْضِ مُخْتَلِفًا أَلْوَٰنُهُۥٓ ۗ إِنَّ فِى ذَٰلِكَ لَـَٔايَةً لِّقَوْمٍ يَذَّكَّرُونَ
“And (He subjugated to you) whatever He created for you on the earth having varied colors. Surely, in that, there is a sign for a people who accept advice.” (16:13)
Allah speaks of the oceans — and this must be left to the reader — and says that from them come the fish:
وَهُوَ ٱلَّذِى سَخَّرَ ٱلْبَحْرَ لِتَأْكُلُوا۟ مِنْهُ لَحْمًا طَرِيًّا وَتَسْتَخْرِجُوا۟ مِنْهُ حِلْيَةً تَلْبَسُونَهَا وَتَرَى ٱلْفُلْكَ مَوَاخِرَ فِيهِ وَلِتَبْتَغُوا۟ مِن فَضْلِهِۦ وَلَعَلَّكُمْ تَشْكُرُونَ
“He is the One who has subjugated the sea, so that you may eat fresh meat from it, and may take out from it ornaments you wear, and you see the boats cleaving through it, and so that you may seek His bounty, and that you may be grateful.” (16:14)
Li-taʾkulū minhu laḥman ṭariyyā: that you may eat fresh meat from the oceans — which is to say the fish. And from them you may take out adornments, your various pearls and such things. SubḥānAllāh. And then He speaks of the ships. There is so much of it that it must be left to the reader, for there is simply no time to treat all of it.