Overview (Verses 26 - 32)

“And cleave the earth in fissures.” (Verse 26) Primitive man sees the rain falling and realizes that he has no power over it. He sees the water splitting the earth and penetrating the soil. He also sees the plants cleaving the earth with the Creator’s will and growing over its surface. He notices that the plants are thin and the earth heavy yet the Creator’s hand enables the plants to split the earth and move through it. Anyone who contemplates how plants grow can recognize the miracle involved here.
 
As human knowledge expands, a new understanding of this statement may be developed. The cleaving of the earth so that it became suitable for vegetation may have taken place a long time ago. The Qur’anic statement may refer to the multiple break up of the earth’s surface rocks caused by the great floods and by the various climatic factors which, according to modern scientists, contributed to the formation of a soil layer where vegetation could grow. This interpretation fits more closely with the sequence of events as it is reported here.
 
In either case, the third stage is that of the growth of all kinds of vegetation. The kind mentioned here is the best known to the people immediately addressed by the Qur’an. “How We bring forth the corn.” (Verse 27) ‘The corn’ refers to all cereals and grains used for human or animal food. “The grapes, and the fresh vegetation.” (Verse 28) The reference here is to the well-known vine fruits and to all vegetables which can be eaten raw and picked time after time. “The olive and the palm, the dense-treed gardens, the fruit trees and the green pastures.” (Verses 29-31) The olive and the palm fruits are well-known to all Arabs. ‘The gardens’ refer to the fenced fields of fruit trees. They are described here as being dense with trees. The Arabic term ‘abb’, translated here as green pastures, refers in all probability to the herbage used for cattle. As mentioned in the commentary on the preceding surah, `Umar asked what ‘abb’ meant and then blamed himself for asking. So we follow `Umar’s suit and add nothing to what has already been mentioned.
 
This is the story of food, the provision of which is carefully planned by the hand which created man. Man plays no role in any of its stages. Even the seeds and grains he casts on the earth are not of his making. The miraculous aspect here lies in the original production of these seeds and grains, which is beyond man’s comprehension. Various seeds may be planted on the same piece of land, irrigated by one kind of water; yet each produces its own fruit. It is the hand of the Creator which makes this infinite collection of plants and their fruits, and preserves in the little seed the characteristics of its mother plant so that they may reappear in the plant which issues from it. Man remains ignorant of the secrets of this process. He has no power over it. It is God’s own production: “For you and your cattle to delight in.” (Verse 32) This delight is, however, for a limited period. There follows something totally different which needs to be carefully considered by man before it actually arrives.