أَفَلا يَنظُرونَ إِلَى الإِبِلِ كَيفَ خُلِقَت

Do they not observe the camel, [to see] how she has been created?

EXEGESIS

Al-ibil (camel) is also mentioned in 6:144. The Arabs have numerous names for a camel at different stages of its life and for its many functions (see the Exegesis of 81:4). Ibil is a more common and generic reference to them unlike jamal (male camel) or nāqah (female camel).

EXPOSITION

The surah’s theme now shifts from eschatology to monotheism and God’s hand in all things. This however has not stopped many an exegete from trying to link this new passage to the first half of the surah. Most of them have posited that for those who would deny the aforementioned descriptions of hellfire and paradise and its wonders, these verses now invite them to witness God’s signs and wonders in this world. For those who reflect on that which is before their eyes rather than take them for granted,^{‎[1]Thalabi, 10/189.} these signs serve as proof of God’s dominion in all worlds, over life and death, here and hereafter, and a display of His magnificence and wisdom in all that He creates and does.^{‎[2]Tabrisi, 10/729.}

And perhaps, if they reflect on the miracle of what is apparent to their limited sensory perception, these signs will bridge the gap for them to the unseen world and connect them to the manifestation and disclosure of divine attributes.^{‎[3]Ibn Arabi, 2/428.} For God has promised that Soon We shall show them Our signs in the horizons and in their own souls until it becomes clear to them that He is the Real (41:53).

Do they not observe therefore means: do they not study, reflect, and contemplate upon …? Qummī defines for us the points of reflection offered to man in this set of verses: ‘Can anyone create the like of camels or raise the heavens, or peg the mountains and spread forth the earth besides Me? Can anyone do any action the like of these actions besides Me?’^{‎[4]Qummi, 2/418.} Such questions are in line with other verses such as, Say: ‘Tell me about what you invoke besides Allah. Show me what [part] of the earth have they created. Do they have any share in the heavens?’ (46:4), O mankind! Remember Allah’s blessing on you! Is there any creator other than Allah who provides for you from the sky and the earth? (35:3), and …indeed those whom you invoke besides Allah will never create [even] a fly even if they all rallied to do so (22:73). See also 2:22.

A common reasoning for why camels are mentioned as a sign on which to reflect is because of how ubiquitous they were amongst the Arabs to whom the Quran was first revealed. Exegetes, however, have gone on to list in detail the unique characteristics and benefits of camels, as well as what distinguishes them from other animals and makes them worthy of mention:

1. Camels are uniquely created for the desert and can carry heavy loads for long distances with minimal food and water, and possess the ability to survive on all kinds of shrubs and hardy plants in the desert. This makes them very low maintenance.
2. As a ‘desert ship’ they can walk on soft dunes and protect their eyes, nose, and other organs from the sand during desert storms, unlike other creatures.
3. They are large animals with tremendous strength. Even when sitting on the ground with heavy loads on their backs they can rise and stand again in a single motion, a feat most animals could not do.
4. Yet they are easily domesticated and submissive to one who rides on or leads them. Some have mentioned that even a young child can lead a large camel.
5. Their meat is lawful to eat, they provide milk, and their fur is useful. They represent wealth and status for one who possesses them. A king would often grant someone a hundred camels as a reward, or carry his treasures on them. At times a camel was sacrificed to atone or save a human life.

Ṭabrisī mentions that Hasan al-Baṣrī was asked about this verse and was told the elephant is bigger than the camel. He replied: ‘As for the elephant, the Arabs do not relate to them easily. It is like a pig – it cannot be ridden on easily, its meat is not lawful, and it gives no milk. The camel is of the most precious possessions for the Arabs. It is subservient to a point that a mouse can take hold of its reins and lead it.’^{‎[5]Tabrisi, 10/728.}

There is therefore also an allusion here to the docile nature of camels that, despite their strength and size, will yield to the one leading them; unlike the human being, who despite being physically smaller and weaker will not yield to the guidance of God even when He is guiding him. Or as Tustarī puts it: ‘Despite their strength they yield to a boy driving them without showing bewilderment and without choosing to do anything else. Thus, you are not incapable of being with your Lord as the camel is with its owner, and this is why the Messenger (s) said: “Be for your Lord as the yielding camel,”^{‎, he submits [to Him].’”][6]”In} meaning compliant.’^{‎[7]Tustari, p. 192.}

The camel is thus seen as a supreme example of God’s wisdom and power.

What, however, is the relation between the camel and the heavens, the mountains, and the earth? The various explanations offered by several exegetes may be summarised as follows:

First, all of creation is equal in demonstrating God’s power and wisdom (17:44), from a gnat (2:26) to the galaxies and the universe itself. So the mention of these four needs to be viewed as genres and categories representing much more. The sky (verse 18 of this surah), for example, covers the sun, the moon, the planets, and all celestial phenomena. Similarly, camel here represents domesticated animals. Qummī as well notes that camel here could mean anʿām (cattle).^{‎[8]Qummi, 2/418.}

Second, all the signs here need to be understood in relation to how they benefit man, as God wishes to draw attention to man’s need to show gratitude to his Lord. Just as man benefits from the earth on which he farms and on which he seeks shelter and many other advantages, and he benefits from the warmth and light of the sun, the light of the moon, the shade of clouds, and the falling of rain from the sky, and he enjoys the repositories of water in the mountains and mines them for resources, camel represents all the domesticated cattle and animals that man uses for transportation, meat, milk, fur, and much else,^{‎[9]Nemuneh, 26/432.} as recounted in verses such as 16:5-8 and 36:71-73.

More specifically, in a desert journey all these four signs come together: the camel is the traveller’s lifeline. If he loses his camel, he would perish. It provides him milk, besides carrying him and his load across the desert, and shelters him during sandstorms. The heavens bring down rain to replenish the oases that the traveller relies on to quench his and his camel’s thirst. The earth provides the shrubs for the camel to eat from whereas the mountains are a place of shelter at night and shade from the midday heat.

Third, the first recipients of the Quran’s message were the Arabs and Bedouins. The latter lived in a desert setting while the former often travelled across deserts and barren lands on camels. And these travels were frequently solitary. It is man’s nature that when his senses are not occupied and distracted with chatter, socialising, and ‘noise’, he ponders and reflects. So his sight would fall on his ride, which is the camel he is mounted on: how wondrous a creature! Then when he looks up there is but the heavens; all around him, to the right and left, he is surrounded by nothing except mountains. And if he gazes further below there is the earth. So it is as if God commands reflection on one’s surroundings in solitary times instead of preoccupation with meaningless fantasies and thoughts that breed arrogance, envy, greed, and fears related to the past or future. The relationship of the camel, the heavens, the mountains, and the earth is that together they act as an all-pervasive source of reflection that can lead to God.^{‎[10]Ibn Kathir, 8/378; Razi, 31/145.}

And finally, all the four matters in verses 17-20 are matters devoid of raising lust and temptation in man. The verses do not, for example, ask man to admire himself and to look at his possessions and wealth, or all the gold and silver he has amassed (3:14), but rather to ponder on matters in nature that are interconnected and interdependent and that reflect divine wisdom without the temptation and lust of man. These are intended to induce introspection and turn man’s attention to an omnipotent and all-wise creator.^{‎[11]Razi, 31/145.}

INSIGHTS FROM HADITH

1. From Imam al-Bāqir (a), from Imam Ali (a): ‘All of good (khayr) is gathered in three traits: gazing, silence, and speech. Every gaze that is without taking a lesson is forgetfulness; every silence that is devoid of reflection is heedlessness; and every speech that is without remembrance [of Allah] is vain talk. So blessed is one whose gaze is lesson-taking, whose silence is a reflection, and whose speech is a remembrance; he weeps over his mistakes whilst people are safe from [any] evil from him.’^{‎[12]Nur, 5/567, from Khisal; Tabrisi, Mishkāt al-Anwār, p. 37.}
2. From Hishām, that when an atheist questioned Imam al-Ṣādiq (a): ‘What is the proof of His [Allah’s] existence?’ He [the Imam] replied: ‘The existence of effects that point [out] that a producer produced them. Do you not see that when you look at a building constructed and erected you know that there must have been one who built it even if you cannot see the builder and have never witnessed him [building it]?’^{‎[13]Kafi, 1/200; Tawhid, p. 244.}

REVIEW OF TAFSĪR LITERATURE

Several exegetes have quoted Ibn Abbas and others as saying ibil here means clouds rather than camel.^{‎[14]Alusi, 15/329; Razi, 31/145; Thaalabi, 5/583.} Ālūsī tells us that the Arabs would use the term ibil for clouds when the clouds gathered one after the other like camels coming together and then jostling and cramming together, and Arabs would often remark how the clouds resembled camels in their shape. So the term ibil came to be a metaphor used for clouds.^{‎[15]Alusi, 15/329.} Rāzī quotes Zamakhsharī as saying that those who suggest this meaning do not mean that ibil is a literal name for clouds like saḥāb, ghamām, muzn, rabāb, ghaym, ghayn, and so on, but rather it is metaphoric because clouds are sometimes shaped like camels and this is often captured in the poetry and imagination of the Arabs.^{‎[16]Razi, 31/145.}

More recently, Professor Abdel Haleem has translated this verse to English with this meaning: Do the disbelievers not see how rain clouds are formed? Thereafter he has commented: ‘The word ibl can mean “camel” as well as “rain cloud”. However, the latter is better in this context amongst all the other geographical images presented. Rain is often used to illustrate the concept of resurrection.’^{‎[17]Abdel Haleem, 88:17.}

Besides the fact that the word ‘disbeliever’ in his translation is an added interpretation and does not occur in the Arabic of the original verse at all, the logic that ibil ‘is better in this context’ because of ‘other geographical images’ is tempting but not convincing, for several reasons:

First, the majority of exegetes, past and present, have understood the word to mean camel, and the fact that camel is different from the other geographical creations of mountain, heavens, and earth, has not escaped them. They have gone to lengths to show how camels relate to these other matters, as explained under Exposition.

Second, one could argue that clouds or rain cloud is covered under the mention of the sky (verse 18) and therefore does not need a separate mention as a new category of God’s sign, whereas camel represents domesticated animals (as a genus) created for the benefit of man.

Third, many exegetes have quoted the renowned Muslim judge al-Qāḍī Shurayḥ (d. circa. 691 ce)^{‎[18]First appointed as chief judge of Kufa by the second caliph, ʿUmar.} as having often remarked: ‘Let us go out and observe, how the camel is created and how the heavens are raised above the earth …’ before he recited this verse.^{‎[19]Thaalabi, 5/583.} So it is clear that even the Prophet’s companions and the generation that followed them understood ibil in this verse as camel.

Fourth, clouds or rain clouds are formed (ṣuniʿat) rather than created (khuliqat), so the verb khuliqat in this verse lends itself more to meaning camel than clouds.

Fifth, it is unlikely that in a set of four verses only one would use a metaphor and the rest would use literal meanings. This opposes the literary beauty of the Quran.

And finally, Ālūsī notes that what makes the mention of the camel here more beautiful is the subtle allusion to the bitter dry thorns or cactus (ḍarīʿ) that was mentioned earlier in verse 6. If it is true that the Quraysh objected, saying ‘Even our camels are nourished by ḍarīʿ’ then it is apt to draw their attention saying, Do they not observe the camel …?^{‎[20]Alusi, 15/329.} To this, we would add the allusion in verse 4 where the wicked were described as struggling and wading through hell like a camel rising and sinking in mud. See the Exposition of verse 4.

[1] Thalabi, 10/189.
[2] Tabrisi, 10/729.
[3] Ibn Arabi, 2/428.
[4] Qummi, 2/418.
[5] Tabrisi, 10/728.
[6] In Mustadrak.S (1/130) the tradition is given as follows: ‘A true believer is like a yielding camel – wherever he is led [by God], he submits [to Him].’
[7] Tustari, p. 192.
[8] Qummi, 2/418.
[9] Nemuneh, 26/432.
[10] Ibn Kathir, 8/378; Razi, 31/145.
[11] Razi, 31/145.
[12] Nur, 5/567, from Khisal; Tabrisi, Mishkāt al-Anwār, p. 37.
[13] Kafi, 1/200; Tawhid, p. 244.
[14] Alusi, 15/329; Razi, 31/145; Thaalabi, 5/583.
[15] Alusi, 15/329.
[16] Razi, 31/145.
[17] Abdel Haleem, 88:17.
[18] First appointed as chief judge of Kufa by the second caliph, ʿUmar.
[19] Thaalabi, 5/583.
[20] Alusi, 15/329.