وَاللَّهُ جَعَلَ لَكُمُ الأَرضَ بِساطًا
Allah has made the earth a vast expanse for you.
EXEGESIS
Bisāṭa (a vast expanse) is from basṭ, which is to unravel or to expand something. Often, its use suggests both meanings at once (unravelling and expanding). The basṭ of a cloth or a rug, for example, is to unfold it; and basaṭa rijlahu means ‘he stretched his leg’ (cf. 18:18). At times, the middle letter sīn, in the word’s root, is given as the heavier ṣād but even as baṣṭ, the meaning remains the same (cf. 2:245).
That which has been unfolded or expanded is referred to as bisāṭa or mabsūṭ. This is said of things that usually lie open and flattened on the earth, and hence these terms are frequently used to mean a carpet or rug. But it is also used to express the spreading out of clouds in the sky (30:48). In the case of this verse, it is the earth that is rolled out into a vast expanse. Several other verses express the same meaning, each with a unique verb: And after that He spread out (daḥāhā) the earth (79:30), And We spread out (madadnāhā) the earth (50:7), And the earth We have spread it out (farashnāhā) (51:48), And the earth, He laid it out (waḍaʿahā) (55:10), and so on.
And the earth, He laid it out (waḍaʿahā) for mankind (55:10) confirms that this laying out of the earth is for mankind’s benefit, as shown even in this verse under discussion, with the words for you.
Other ways in which the earth is described, in relation to man and how it supports him, include it being: a place of repose (firāsha) for you (2:22), a cradle (mahda) for you (20:53, 43:10), an abode (qarāra) for you (40:64, 27:61), tractable (dhalūl) for you (67:15), a receptacle (kifāta) for the living and the dead (77:25-26), a resting place (mihāda) (78:6), and so forth.
Basṭ al-yad or basṭ al-kaff (to stretch or extend the hand) are sometimes used literally (6:93, 13:14), and often metaphorically, to denote assaulting or smiting someone (5:11, 5:28, 60:2), having dominion over others, being generous or vastly endowed in a matter (2:247, 5:64, 7:69, 2:247), or even being spendthrift (17:29).
The opposite of basṭ (as an expansion) is qabḍ (contraction), and it too is used both literally and metaphorically, to mean a closed fist (20:96) or a contraction (such as of provisions) (2:245). See 2:245 for more on basṭ and qabḍ.
And though this verse continues from the previous, God is referred to here by the proper noun – Allah – instead of a pronoun, quite likely for magnification and veneration (taʿẓīm), as well as to amplify in the minds of the idolaters that their blessings are from God alone and no other entity that they imagine to be their benefactors.
[1] Raghib, b-s-ṭ.
[2] Lane, b-s-ṭ.
[3] Raghib, b-s-ṭ.
[4] Lane, b-s-ṭ.
[5] Also called the majestic name (ism al-jalālah).