Al Anbiyā’

وَمَا خَلَقْنَا السَّمآءَ وَالاَرْضَ وَمَا بَيْنَهُمَا لاَعِبِينَ

لَوْ أَرَدْنَآ أَن نَتَّخِذَ لَهواً لاَتَّخَذْنَاهُ مِن لَدُنَّآ إِن كُنَّا فَاعِلِينَ

16. “And We did not create the heaven and the earth and what is between them in play.”
17. “Had We intended that We should take amusement we would certainly have taken it from before Ourselves, if We would do (such a thing).”

In view of the fact that the former verses illustrated this fact that the faithless transgressors did not consider any good for their creation except feasting and drinking, or, in fact, they imagined that the world might be aimless. Here, in order to nullify this doctrine and to prove the existence of a worthy aim for the Divine creation of the whole world in general, and humankind in particular, the Qur’an says:

This vast land, this high sky, and these various and lively creatures that are found in them, show that there have been an important purpose for their creation. Yes, they have been created, on one side, to denote that there is a great Creator for them and they are simply some signs to His Grandeur. And, on the other side, they have been created to work as a reason for Resurrection. Otherwise, all these things were meaningless to be created for a few days of life.

Now that it is certain that the creation of the world is not aimless, this fact is also certain that the aim of this creation has not been a hobby for Allah, because it will be an irrational hobby. The verse says:

This holy verse conveys two facts. The first is that it is impossible that the aim of Allah to be a hobby and play. Then it implies, on the supposition that His aim were a play, the play should be apt to His Essence. It should be something out of the world of abstractions, not out of the world of the limited matter.

Explanations

In Arabic, the word /lau/ is used for an action which is impossible to be done, and since, here, /lahw/ (play) is impossible to be attributed to Allah, this word has been applied in this verse. In these verses, at first Allah says:

and then He continues saying:

but He does not say:

Thus, it makes clear the meaning that the essence of ‘amusement’ and ‘play’ is the same. It has been recorded in Al-Mizan, the commentary, that a regulated action which is done by some imaginary aims, like some childish deeds, is called ‘play’, but as soon as these imaginary actions become earnest, so that they hinder man from the main affairs and change into the form of hobbies, they are called ‘amusement’ both of which are futile and meaningless when concerning Allah.

This subject has frequently emphasized on in the Qur’an that the world of existence is not a play, but has an aim. If, granting an impossibility, Allah intended an aim of play, He would not pay to creation of man; He might not put all those prophets into trouble; He would not bid and forbid anything; and He would not assign any reward and retribution for human beings.