أَلَم تَرَ أَنَّ اللَّهَ أَنزَلَ مِنَ السَّماءِ ماءً فَسَلَكَهُ يَنابيعَ فِي الأَرضِ ثُمَّ يُخرِجُ بِهِ زَرعًا مُختَلِفًا أَلوانُهُ ثُمَّ يَهيجُ فَتَراهُ مُصفَرًّا ثُمَّ يَجعَلُهُ حُطامًا ۚ إِنَّ في ذٰلِكَ لَذِكرىٰ لِأُولِي الأَلبابِ

Have you not seen that Allah sends down water from the sky, then He conducts it through the ground as springs. Then with it He brings forth crops of diverse hues. Then they wither and you see them turn yellow. Then He turns them into chaff. There is indeed an admonition in that for those who possess intellect.

EXEGESIS

Salakahu means to move or conduct something through a path or channel.^{‎[1]Raghib; Tahqiq, under s-l-k.} It is also defined as entering or injecting something into something else.^{‎[2]Tibyan, 9/19.} It is most often used as a transitive verb in the Holy Quran. Therefore, He conducts it through the ground as springs indicates a planned and organised management of water, whereby it is maintained and channelled in the right way to crops, animals, and human beings: We sent down water from the sky in a measured manner, and We lodged it within the ground (23:18).^{‎[3]Zamakhshari, 4/122.}

Yahīju: tremble, shiver, alter, usually due to some difficulty and distress.^{‎[4]Lisan; Tahqiq, under h-y-j.} Here it means a change from the initial condition of crops of diverse hues that are ripe and fresh, to a condition where you see them turn yellow. Therefore, it is the process of drying and withering.^{‎[5]Tibyan, 9/20.}

Ḥaṭama means to break and crush, like the breaking of dry chaff or straw. Ḥuṭām means anything dry that is crushed. It is used in the Quran for the life and pleasures of this world due to being ephemeral and worthless.^{‎[6]Raghib; Tahqiq; Lisan, under ḥ-ṭ-m.} It is synonymous with hashīm in the Quran (18:45, 54:31).

EXPOSITION

This is the third verse in this chapter that talks about those who possess intellect. It provides a parable of the natural cycle of life and death for the admonition of these individuals; a parable that indicates God’s power as well as the inevitability of the afterlife, for otherwise this cycle would be vain and pointless.^{‎[7]Alusi, 12/246.} More specifically, this is a Quranic parable about the life of this world, which is presented with minor differences in three other verses. The life of this world is like the growth of charming and colourful plants that are fresh and vivid for a short period of time, followed by their withering and death into dry straw and broken chaff that is scattered by the wind. The three other similar verses provide more insight into what is meant by this parable are:

1. The parable of the life of this world is that of water which We send down from the sky. It mingles with the earth’s vegetation from which humans and cattle eat. When the earth puts on its lustre and is adorned, and its inhabitants think they have power over it, Our edict comes to it, by night or day, whereat We turn it into a mown field, as if it did not flourish the day before. Thus do We elaborate the signs for a people who reflect (10:24).
2. Draw for them the parable of the life of this world: [it is] like the water We send down from the sky. Then the earth’s vegetation mingles with it. Then it becomes chaff, scattered by the wind. And Allah is omnipotent over all things (18:45).
3. Know that the life of this world is just play and diversion, and glitter, and mutual vainglory among you and covetousness for wealth and children – like the rain whose vegetation impresses the farmer; then it withers and you see it turn yellow, then it becomes chaff, while in the hereafter there is a severe punishment and forgiveness from Allah and His pleasure; and the life of this world is nothing but the wares of delusion (57:20).

There is a clear connection between this verse and the previous verse: the previous verse describes the gardens of paradise which God has promised – and Allah does not break His promise – while this verse describes the gardens and bounties of this world. The contrast shows that the life and pleasure of this world are no substitute for God’s lofty abodes with [other] lofty abodes built above them. It gives the reader a strong incentive to respond to God’s promise and take it seriously. At the end of the day, what one builds or gathers in this life is broken chaff, while the abodes of the hereafter are strongly built and established. This is a lesson and admonition for the possessors of intellect because it takes intellection and reflection to recognise the reality of this life. Yet you prefer the life of this world, while the hereafter is better and more lasting (87:16-17).

Therefore, the two verses complement one another, because the last verse makes the reader attracted and inclined to the hereafter, while this verse makes the reader averse and disinclined to this world. Then the next verse (verse 22) describes this disinclination towards this world and inclination toward the hereafter as a result of God’s light that expands one’s breast. No matter how long and how well one lives in this world, the end of it is death.^{‎[8]Razi, 26/439-440.} ‘The earth has consumed so many bodies of mighty vigour and beautiful colour.’^{‎[9]Nahj, sermon 221.}

Make the land of your heart green and grow;

For the colour of your face shall wither and yellow.^{‎[10]Parvīn Iʿtiṣāmī, qaṣīdah 16.}

… crops of diverse hues: one of the signs of God is His creation of diverse colours. This refers to the wide spectrum of various species, including human beings, animals, crops, fruits, and even mountains (16:13, 16:69, 30:22, 35:27-28). What shows God’s utmost power and beauty is that all of these various kinds and colours have the same origin: In the earth are neighbouring terrains [of diverse kinds] and vineyards, farms, and date palms growing from the same root and from diverse roots, [all] irrigated by the same water, and We give some of them an advantage over others in flavour. There are indeed signs in that for a people who apply reason (13:4). Not only do they share the same beginning, but they also have the same end (2:156, 20:55): Then they wither and you see them turn yellow. Then He turns them into chaff.

Pointing to the emergence of the various colours and their origin and end helps a few purposes: 1. It reminds the reader not to fall for the apparent beauty of the colours of this world, but to see their simple beginning and their ultimate fall. 2. It turns the reader’s attention to a universal reality beyond these particular colours. This strengthens one’s monotheistic view of the beings, by which one does not get caught up with the realm of phenomenon, but sees the real cause behind the apparently visible. These colours are only the instruments and manifestations of that higher reality: ‘The colourless is indeed the origin of all colour.’^{‎[11]Rūmī, Mathnawī, v. 6, line 58.}

All these images and figures full of grace

Were a single flash of the Tapster’s face.^{‎[12]Ḥāfiẓ, ghazal 111.}

It is interesting that the verse describes apparently natural processes as acts by God: Allah sends down water … He conducts it through the ground as springs … He brings forth crops. Indeed, those who possess intellect see the laws and forces of nature only as means and instruments by which God conducts His will.^{‎[13]Qaraati, 8/159.}

INSIGHTS FROM OTHER TRADITIONS

The picture and analogy depicted in this verse is found is several verses in the Bible. A few of these verses are as follows:

1.  As for man, his days are as grass: as a flower of the field, so he flourisheth. For the wind passeth over it, and it is gone; and the place thereof shall know it no more.^{‎[14]Psalms 103:15-16.}
2. But the rich, in that he is made low: because as the flower of the grass he shall pass away. For the sun is no sooner risen with a burning heat, but it withereth the grass, and the flower thereof falleth, and the grace of the fashion of it perisheth: so also shall the rich man fade away in his ways.^{‎[15]James 1:10-11.}
3. For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away.^{‎[16]1 Peter 1:24.}

[1] Raghib; Tahqiq, under s-l-k.
[2] Tibyan, 9/19.
[3] Zamakhshari, 4/122.
[4] Lisan; Tahqiq, under h-y-j.
[5] Tibyan, 9/20.
[6] Raghib; Tahqiq; Lisan, under ḥ-ṭ-m.
[7] Alusi, 12/246.
[8] Razi, 26/439-440.
[9] Nahj, sermon 221.
[10] Parvīn Iʿtiṣāmī, qaṣīdah 16.
[11] Rūmī, Mathnawī, v. 6, line 58.
[12] Ḥāfiẓ, ghazal 111.
[13] Qaraati, 8/159.
[14] Psalms 103:15-16.
[15] James 1:10-11.
[16] 1 Peter 1:24.