أَلَم نَجعَلِ الأَرضَ مِهادًا

Did We not make the earth a resting place?

EXEGESIS

Mihād is a place that has been prepared for rest and respite. Here it is synonymous with mahd, meaning cradle: He who made the earth for you a cradle (20:53, 43:10).^{‎[1]Raghib, under m-h-d; Tahqiq, under m-h-d.} God has spread out the earth like a carpet for us (71:19), has made it a place of repose (2:22), has made it tractable for our use (67:15), and has made it our abode and place of stability (40:64).

The indefinite form (mihādan) is to indicate the greatness and magnificence of this bounty. The same is true for all of the other bounties discussed in the subsequent verses.

The question posed here is clearly a rhetorical question, intending to make the reader come to his senses and think to himself: O man! What has deceived you about your generous [or noble] Lord (82:6).

The plural pronoun in this verse (We) – which is also seen either implicitly or explicitly in the following verses – shows God’s greatness. It could also be that it includes the means by which God acts in the universe, which would be His angels and His divine names.^{‎[2]Bursawi, 10/297.}

EXPOSITION

After introducing the great tiding that shall happen, the surah talks about a series of phenomena in the creation of God in the form of a set of rhetorical questions.^{‎[3]Mizan, 20/161.} These verses ask the intellect and innate nature of the audience to ponder upon God’s creation and realise the truth of resurrection.^{‎[4]Qaraati, 10/359-360.} The verses also describe the natural phenomena of this world as God’s acts and attribute them to Him. This is a reminder to us lest we are caught up with the apparent order of things in the universe and veiled by their interactions. Instead, we should always be aware and mindful of the ultimate source behind them, who has created them, and is ever sustaining and directing them.^{‎[5]Qaraati, 10/361.}

The winds, the clouds, the sun and the moon

Are running day and night to fill up your spoon,

So that you may be heedful and in tune

When you sit down to eat your lunch at noon.^{‎[6]Saʿdī, Gulistān.}

The events mentioned in these verses serve to show a few things: 1. God’s infinite mercy and His innumerable blessings upon mankind. 2. His infinite power over everything. 3. The ungratefulness of the disbelievers in return for God’s blessings. 4. The orderly system of the universe as designed by God. These points – especially the last one – naturally lead to the conclusion, Indeed the Day of Judgement is the tryst (verse 17). In other words, We did not create the sky and the earth and whatever is between them in vain (38:27); We did not create the heavens and the earth and whatever is between them except with reason, and indeed the hour is bound to come (15:85). These blessings justify the previous threat and warning latent in the last two verses: No indeed! They will soon know! This itself is a reason for resurrection: Shall We treat those who have faith and do righteous deeds like those who cause corruption on the earth? Shall We treat the God-wary like the vicious? (38:28).^{‎[7]Tabari, 30/3, with some elaboration.}

[1] Raghib, under m-h-d; Tahqiq, under m-h-d.
[2] Bursawi, 10/297.
[3] Mizan, 20/161.
[4] Qaraati, 10/359-360.
[5] Qaraati, 10/361.
[6] Saʿdī, Gulistān.
[7] Tabari, 30/3, with some elaboration.