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alladhī jaʿala lakumu l-ʾarḍa firāshan wa-s-samāʾa bināʾan wa-ʾanzala mina s-samāʾi māʾan fa-ʾakhraja bihī mina th-thamarāti rizqan lakum fa-lā tajʿalū li-llāhi ʾandādan wa-ʾantum taʿlamūna
—He who made the earth a place of repose for you, and the sky a canopy, and He sends down water from the sky and with it brings forth crops for your sustenance. So do not set up equals to Allah, while you know.
— Ali Quli Qarai
Surah Al-Baqarah, Verses 21-22
O’ mankind! Worship your Lord Who created you, and those before you, so that you may guard yourselves (against evil) (2:21)
Who has spread out the earth as a resting place for you, and has made heaven as a canopy, and has sent down water from heaven, wherewith He brings forth fruits for your sustenance; so do not set up rivals with Allah while you know (2:22)
Do Worship Allah!
In the former verses, Allah describes the statuses of three groups of people (the righteous, the disbelievers, and the hypocrites), by explaining that the righteous are inside the circle of the Divine Guidance and the Qur’an guides them; while the hearts of the disbelievers are sealed with ignorance and, because of their own deeds, their eyes are covered with negligence which has taken away their sense of perception. And, the hypocrites are some ill-hearted people whose evil actions increase their sickness.
In the verses under discussion, after that vivid comparison, the path of felicity and salvation is specified as following the path of the first group, the righteous:
O’ mankind! Worship your Lord Who created you, and those before you, so that you may guard yourselves (against evil) (2:21).
What Is Servitude and Worship?
The word ‘servitude’ in lexicon means: ‘the condition of subjection, submissiveness and obedience of a slave to a master’. Worship is the utmost aspect of submissiveness to the One Who is at the highest degree of virtue, kindness, benevolence, and magnanimity. That is why He has distinctly commanded:
...That you worship none but Him ... (17:23).
The person who has a little understanding can apply his intellect to know himself and his own Lord. When he recognizes himself, the one who has been considered the noblest creature, he will know his own Lord and Cherisher, too. This is a popular tradition that the person who after knowing himself, would know his Lord and Cherisher by that recognition. Then, as it is said, the key to the recognition of Allah is the recognition of oneself. When he finds himself in his servitude and his Lord in His Divinity, he understands that he should concentrate his obedience, humility, submissiveness and servitude unto the One in Whose hand and Will is his soul and entity; the One from Whom (SwT) he takes sustenance constantly.
If the emanation of existence from the Absolute Bountiful Origin ceased from him even for a moment, he would be deprived of the bounty of existence.
Some Explanations
Regarding the above verses, there are some points, here, that should be paid attention to:
1. The phrase / ya ayyu-han-nas / ‘O’ mankind’, which occurs twenty times in the Holy Qur’an, has a general and collective meaning that envelops all human beings of any race, tribe, or colour.
This clearly shows that the Holy Qur’an does not pertain exclusively to a special group of people, but it invites every single person to its invitation, in general. It persuades everybody to accept Monotheism and refuse any idolatry and deviation from the path of theism.
2. To invoke the sense of people’s thankfulness and to concentrate their attention on the worshipping of Allah, it begins from the greatest bounty, i.e., the bounty of the creation of all human beings.
It is a bounty that illustrates both the tower or Allah and His Knowledge, in addition to His ‘General Mercy’ and ‘Specific Mercy’, because in the creation of Man, the best creature in the world of existence, the signs of His infinite Knowledge and Power, together with His vastly distributed bounties, are clearly seen. The reason that some do not bow before Allah and do not worship Him is mostly because they do not contemplate their own creation and the creation of those who came before them. They do not take into consideration that it is not right to attribute this magnificent creation to the blind and deaf causes of nature.
We cannot think of these accurate, reliable and incomparable bounties, which are vividly seen in the body and the spirit of Man, from any origin except Allah, Who is the source of all knowledge and power. Therefore, the remembrance of these bounties is both a reason for theology and a stimulus for thankfulness and worshipping, along the path of Allah.
3. The fruit of this worshipping is piety and righteousness:
...so that you may guard yourselves (against evil) (2:21).
Thus, our worshipping and prayers do not add anything to the Dignity and Glory of Allah, just as the abandoning of them does not take anything from His Greatness and Beauty. These kinds of practices are some training classes to teach man piety, which is synonymous with having a sense of responsibility, and, the standard of measuring one’s personality. Finally, it is worship that causes man to attain the epithet of being pious, -a good mood in the spirit of man, that comes into being as a result of worship and servitude unto Allah.
4. The emphasis on the phrase: ‘Those before you’ in the verse, may refer to the idea that if you agree with the custom of your ancestors that you should worship idols, Allah is the creator of both you and your ancestors. He is the Master and the Cherisher of you and your ancestors both. So, worshipping the idols, either done by you or by your ancestors, is not anything but aberration.
The Sky and The Earth Are Bounties
In the next verse, it points to some other great bounties of Allah that can serve to motivate men to be thankful. At first, it refers to the creation of the Earth and its Creator:
Who has spread out the earth as a resting place for you... (2:22).
The earth is like a mount that carries you on its back. It continues moving at a wonderful speed in space. It has different movements, but you feel no shaking at all. So, the earth is one of Allah’s great bounties. Another bounty is the gravity of the earth which enables you to walk, rest, build houses and to prepare gardens, fields, and all kinds of vehicles, instruments, etc; for your usage. Have you ever thought that if the gravity of Earth did not exist, because of its rotation, all of us and all of our houses and furniture, or, in general, everything on the globe would be immediately thrown floating into space?
The term / firas / ‘a resting place’ not only has the meaning of rest and tranquillity but also contains the concept of being pleasant and warm with a moderate temperature. It is interesting that, commenting on this verse, ‘Ali Ibn al-Husayn, the fourth Imam of the Shi’ah school (‘a), has clearly explained this meaning, thus:
“Allah has arranged the earth adapted to your nature and appropriate for your bodies. He made it neither very hot so that it roasts you, nor very cold so that it freezes you. He made it neither too aromatic so much so that its odour hurts your brains, nor too foul-smelling to cause your death.
He planned it neither too soft so that you be drowned in it, like in water, nor too rigid and stable to enable you to build houses and make graves to bury the corpses of your men (which cause many disasters when they remain unburied) ... Yes, it is for this reason that He has spread out the earth as a resting place for you’.” 1
The word / bana /, considering the term / alaykum / ‘above you’, refers to the meaning that the heaven is made up above you like a canopy. This idea is mentioned in another place in the Holy Qur’an, saying:
And We have made the heaven as a canopy well-guarded ... (21:32)
This statement may seem amazing to some of those who are acquainted with the intrinsic structure of the heaven and earth from the point of modem astronomy. They may ask where and how this canopy is. Does this idea not call to mind the Ptolemaic Theory which indicated that planets are set over each other in the sky like the layers of an onion? The subject will be made clear when the following explanation is considered. The term / sama’ / has been used in the Qur’an in different places whose common meaning is something alongside the solution to the above problem. One of those meanings is referred to in this verse.
It is the very atmosphere around the earth, that is, the thick aerial distance with a mass of gases that has surrounded the globe whose thickness, according to what specialists have said, is, roughly speaking, hundreds of kilometres, though it is not distributed uniformly in the vertical direction. If we contemplate the essential and vital function of this mass of air, generally called the atmosphere, which has enveloped the whole earth, we will understand how this strong and stable canopy, or ceiling, is effective in protecting the lives of human beings.
This special amount of air which, as a crystal ceiling, has surrounded us, the inhabitants of the earth, is so strong and resisting that in comparison with a steel dam several meters thick, it is stronger; while it does not hinder the brilliant sunshine, which has a vital, life- giving and pleasant ray, from reaching us. If this ceiling were not over us, the earth would be continuously beaten with showers of celestial meteorites, wherein human beings would have no peace and calmness. But this several-hundred-kilometre thick airy ceiling burns almost all the celestial meteorites before they reach the surface of the earth, except a few of them which can sometimes pass through it and fall somewhere on the ground to warn the earthly living creatures as a ring of danger.
This small number of stones has never succeeded to destroy the security of human lives yet; except on those occasions that Allah used them to destroy previous generations for their evil deeds. The atmosphere, a vast and complicated physical system, has a basic environmental influence on plant, animal, and human life. One of the references which shows that one of meanings of the Arabic word / sama / as ‘the atmosphere of the earth’, is a tradition cited by the sixth Imam, Imam as-Sadiq (‘a) describing the colour of the sky for one of his followers, Mufaddal.
He said: “O Mufaddal! Contemplate the colour of the sky which Allah has created so that it seems blue, - a colour that is the most appropriate for the eyes, and looking at it strengthens the vision.”2 We all know today that the blue colour of the sky is nothing but the reflection of sunlight on the intense thick air around the earth. Therefore, the word / sama / ‘sky’, here, refers to the very ‘atmosphere of the earth’.3 Surah An-Nahl says:
Do they not look at the birds held poised in the midst of (the air and) the sky? (16:79).
Then it refers to rain, thus:
...and has sent down water from heaven... (2:22).
But, what water! It is a life-giver, an essential producer of vital energy, and the origin of all inhabited regions containing many material blessings. The phrase:
And has sent down water from heaven (2:22)
confirms the fact, once more, that / sama’/, here, means the atmosphere of the earth. And we know that it is clouds that produce rain and clouds are the formation of water vapor floating in the air, above the surface of the earth. Commenting on the bounty of rain coming down from the sky, ‘Ali Ibn al-Husayn, Imam Sajjad (‘a), has cited an interesting narration which says:
“Allah has sent down rain from the sky to water the peaks of mountains, and hills, ditches and, on the whole, all sites high or low (saturating them completely).
He planned for it to rain continually and gently, with raindrops being individual and separated from each other; sometimes in the form of drizzles or mist like, and sometimes in the form of rainfall, in order to let it go down in the soil and saturate it. He did not let it fall as a flood which would wash away and destroy the lands, trees, fields and fruits”. 4
Then, the Qur’an refers to the kinds of fruits and nutritious foods that are produced because of rain and awarded to men as their sustenance. It says:
…where with He brings forth fruits for your sustenance… (2:22)
This process of producing fruits is one of the most valuable proofs of His Existence. On one hand, it indicates the vast extent of Allah’s Mercy unto all human creatures, and on the other hand, it specifies His Power by which, from colourless water, He can create thousands of colours in fruits and grains whose different properties are useful for men, as well as other living creatures. Hence, immediately after that, it adds:
…so do not set up rivals with Allah while you know. (2:22)
Verily, you know that these idols, or partners, which are the creations of your own fancy, have neither created you nor given you sustenance nor any of your bounties. Then, how do you go after those false gods? Do not adopt any equals for Allah and be devoted to Him to translate His Will into a practical life.
Explanation: Idolatry In Different Forms
It is necessary to note that the false gods are not exclusively wooden or stone idols, or, for example, recognizing a man such as Jesus Christ (‘a) as one of the trinity, but the concept has a broader scope of meaning. The false gods may be superstitions, self, or even some great or glorious things like rank, position, art, poetry, science, or, kinds of pride which can be the hidden forms of idolatry when they are set up as rivals to Allah. So, in general, knowing anything save Allah, effective in life is a kind of idolatry.
A Detailed Scientific Meaning of Atmosphere
The Qur’anic term / sama’/ ‘sky’, wherefrom the rain, for example, comes down, sometimes has the meaning of atmosphere, whose explanation according to some encyclopaedias is as follows: The ‘atmosphere’ is the mass of ‘air’ surrounding the earth to a distance of several hundred kilometres. It appears insubstantial but in reality, it has enormous mass. It is not simply a formless mass of gases which can be divided into several layers on the basis of meteorological and electromagnetic considerations, but it consists, roughly, of three major layers which differ widely in their characteristics. These layers are the troposphere, the stratosphere, and the ionosphere.
The troposphere is the layer of air that lies next to and immediately above the earth’s surface. The height of the troposphere varies from the poles of the earth to the Equator, being about four or five miles at the poles and about 10 miles at the Equator. Stratosphere was the term formerly applied to the entire atmosphere above the troposphere. Later it was found that the temperature did vary significantly with the height and also that there existed various stratifications.
Some scientists have introduced rather detailed terminology to describe various layers of increasing, decreasing, and constant temperature in the atmosphere and the Ozone layer. But here the distinction will be made between two layers only: the ‘stratosphere’ extending upward from the tropopause to the ionosphere, and the ionosphere, whose lowest ionized layer is found at a height of 35 to 40 miles. The standard pressure of the atmosphere (760 millimetres) is very nearly equal to 1000000 dynes per square centimetre and is often referred to as the ‘bar’. The ‘millibar’ is 1/1000 of this quantity, sanctioned by the International Meteorological Conferences as the standard for the expression of barometric pressure.
If the atmosphere were of uniform density at a standard pressure of 760 millimetres of mercury and at a temperature of 0°C, its height could easily be calculated based on the weight of a cubic centimetre of air being 0.0012928 grams. The height of such a uniform atmosphere is 7.99 kilometres (4.97 miles), and is known as the ‘height of homogeneous atmosphere’ conveniently useful in certain physical computations. The actual height of the atmosphere is somewhat difficult to determine since it becomes very tenuous at great heights.
We may, however, infer its extent from three sources: (1) the duration of twilight which depends upon scattered sunlight from high atmospheric particles; (2) the height at which meteors become luminous; and (3) observation of auroral streamers. Twilight has been observed to exist until the sun is about 18° below the horizon, which, at altitude of 45°, indicates the existence of sufficient atmospheric particles to scatter sunlight at a height of over 60 kilometres (37 miles). Meteors have been observed to become luminous as high as 300 kilometres (186 miles).
Auroral streamers have been seen to stretch upward to a height of 1100 kilometres (680 miles). It is very difficult to assign an upper limit to the earth’s atmosphere. Atmospheric gases in an exceedingly tenuous condition probably extend hundreds if not thousands of miles above the earth’s surface. (This piece is extracted, here, from the Encyclopaedia Americana, Vol. 2, p. 508; and Encyclopaedia International, Vol. 2, p. 165).
Footnotes