Tafsir of Surah An-Nahl - Verse 10

The Blessings of Rain, and explaining how it is one of the Signs

When Allah mentions the blessings of cattle and other animals that He has granted mankind, He then mentions how He has blessed them by sending rain down from the sky above, which has been fulfilling the needs and bringing joy to people and their cattle. Allah says:

لَّكُم مَّنْهُ شَرَابٌ

(from it you drink) meaning, He made it fresh and pure so that they can drink it, not salty and undrinkable.

وَمِنْهُ شَجَرٌ فِيهِ تُسِيمُونَ

(and from it (grows) the vegetation on which you send your cattle to pasture.) meaning, from it He raised plants on which your cattle graze. Ibn `Abbas, `Ikrimah, Ad-Dahhak, Qatadah and Ibn Zayd, all said that this refers to grazing animals including camels.

يُنبِتُ لَكُمْ بِهِ الزَّرْعَ وَالزَّيْتُونَ وَالنَّخِيلَ وَالأَعْنَـبَ وَمِن كُلِّ الثَّمَرَتِ

(With it He causes crops to grow for you, olives, date palms, grapes, and every kind of fruit.) meaning, with this one kind of water, He makes the earth sprout plants with different tastes, colors, scents and shapes. For this reason He says,

إِنَّ فِى ذَلِكَ لآيَةً لِّقَوْمٍ يَتَفَكَّرُونَ

(Verily, in this there is indeed an evident proof and a manifest sign for people who give thought.) meaning, this is a sign and a proof that there is no god besides Allah, as He says:

أَمَّنْ خَلَقَ السَّمَـوَتِ وَالاٌّرْضَ وَأَنزَلَ لَكُمْ مِّنَ السَّمَآءِ مَآءً فَأَنبَتْنَا بِهِ حَدَآئِقَ ذَاتَ بَهْجَةٍ مَّا كَانَ لَكُمْ أَن تُنبِتُواْ شَجَرَهَا أَإِلَـهٌ مَّعَ اللَّهِ بَلْ هُمْ قَوْمٌ يَعْدِلُونَ

(Is not He (better than your gods) Who created the heavens and the earth, and sends water down for you from the sky, from which We cause wonderful gardens full of beauty and delight to grow You are not able to cause the growth of their trees. Is there any ilah (god) with Allah Nay, but they are a people who make equals (to Him)!) (27:60).

Commentary

The word: شَجَر (shajar) in verse 10: مِنْهُ شَجَرٌ‌ فِيهِ تُسِيمُونَ (from which [ you grow ] plants, on which you pasture cattle) is mostly applied to a tree which stands on a trunk. Sometimes, it is also applied, in an absolute sense, to everything which grows on land. Included therein are grass on stems or tendrils. This is the sense meant in this verse, because the pasturing of cattle has been mentioned immediately after which is mostly related to grass.

The last word: (tusimun) is a derivation from isamah which means to leave cattle to graze freely in a pasture.

The clouds send down rain from the sky and, thanks to this, extremely fruitful results appear on the earth down below. This coordinated and harmonious action of ‘heaven and earth’ clearly proves that the God of earth is the same as that of heaven. There is perfect harmony among the different parts of the universe. This harmony is definite proof of the fact that the Creator and Lord of the whole universe is only one. In the present structure of the universe, there is no scope for more than one God, and when the real Creator and Lord is one God, making any thing other than Him an object of worship will be absolutely indefensible.