al-Wāqi‘ah

أفَرَأيْتُم مَّا تَحْرُثُونَ

أأنتُمْ تَزْرَعُونَهُ أمْ نَحْنُ الزَّارِعُونَ

لَوْ نَشَاء لَجَعَلْنَاهُ حُطَامًا فَظَلَلْتُمْ تَفَكَّهُونَ

إِنَّا لَمُغْرَمُونَ

بَلْ نَحْنُ مَحْرُومُونَ

63. Have you ever thought about what you have sown in the ground?

64. Is it you that make it grow, or are We the Grower?

65. Were it Our Will, We could crumble it to dry pieces and you would be left in perplexity.

66. Such that you say "Indeed, we are verily losers!

67. "Nay, but we are deprived and unfortunate."

The blessed Verses in question as well as the following ones refer to three arguments each of which bear testimony to Divine Omnipotence in human life: creation of seeds, water, and fire as the three pillars of human life. Seeds of crops constitute the most important elements of nutrition; water is the most important drink; fire is the most important means for the preparation of food and carrying out other life issue. Thus, the blessed Verse 63 asks:

"What you ever thought about what you sow in the ground?" The blessed Verse 64 further asks: "Do you make it grow or We make it grow?" It would be of interest to notice that the verbal form tahruthun ("you sow seeds") derives from h-r-th "sow seeds and preparing them for growth" but the verbal form tazra‘un ("you cultivate") is from the root z-r-‘ ("to cultivate, to farm"). It is evident that man only sows but God Almighty is He Who makes the seeds grow.

In this vein, a tradition is narrated from the Noble Prophet (S), saying:

"Do not say that you cultivated, but say that you sowed, since God Almighty is the True Cultivator." ⁵

The reason is that man's role in the process of agriculture is like that of his in the process of procreation, namely he solely throws seeds or ejaculates semen and It is God Almighty Who causes the growth of a microscopic cell in favorable conditions. The seed uses the nutritive elements available in it, sprouts, and develops roots; then it uses the nutritive elements in the soil with an astounding speed.

The enormous laboratory of the plant functions and makes the stems, leaves, and clusters and at times one single seed engenders hundreds or even thousands of seeds. Scientists maintain that such laboratory is far more sophisticated and perplexing than those used in a highly developed industrial city with its numerous factories. Now, God Almighty Who created such system through His Omnipotence is also All-Able to raise the dead. The blessed Verse 65 is saying:

"Were it Our Will, We could crumble it to dry pieces and you would be left in perplexity."

God Almighty is All-Able to cause venomous winds blow onto seeds such that they nip them in the bud or afflict them with other blights, like locusts. He may even cause lightning destroy them such that a bunch of withered pieces may remain. Then, you will be perplexed and regretful. Now, were you the true cultivators, such things would have never happened. Therefore, you should know that such Blessings spring from another source. The Arabic word hutam, deriving from h-t-m, originally denotes "breaking something" but it is often applied to breaking dried up things, like rotten bones or withered stems. The word herein connotes "hay."

Some Qur’anic exegetes also maintain that the word may ad hoc connote rotting of seeds underneath the earth and thus impeding them from growth.⁶ The Arabic verbal form tafakkahun ("you are left in perplexity") is a cognate of fakiha ("fruit") and fukaha ("witticism; jokes [as the fruit of friendly assemblies]") derives from f-k-h which is at times, as in the blessed Verse in question, employed in the sense of "to be perplexed." The blessed Verses 66 and 67 read:

"You are astounded saying that you are verily losers. But we are totally deprived and unfortunate." Were you the true cultivators, would you have the same fate? Such instances clearly reflect that He is the One Who makes an insignificant seed grow into a fresh plant which may engender hundreds or even thousands of seeds. Such plants are the food for men and their leaves, stems, and branches are fodder; even their roots and other parts may be used as herbs in curing different ailments.

Footnotes

1. 5. Tafsir Majma‘ al-Bayan; Tafsir Ruh al-Ma‘ani.
2. 6. Abu al-Futuh Razi's Tafsir.