And when the context was for establishing resurrection and frightening them with it, and they were denying it and believing in the permanence of the world, thinking that it is merely wombs that give birth and land that always endures without cessation, [for it is a home that is pleasing and to which one feels secure], and for repelling tyranny and boasting without truth, and the parables were clearer for the places of confusion, Allah, the Most High, said, representing its enjoyment and limiting its matter to destruction in response to their belief in its permanence without resurrection: "Indeed, the example of the worldly life" which you compete in for the quickness of its end and the passing of its delights after its great coming: "is like water We send down from the sky," [meaning] by which We have greatness, [and He affirmed its matter and clarified it by saying]: "from the sky." So He compared it to the matter of vegetation, and that it is little, reaching its end, so the earth becomes barren after that greenness and variety. In that is an indication of resurrection and that He, the Most High, is capable of striking it before its end or after it with some calamities, as is found in some years, causing them to become desolate and in need of it. In that is a great warning: "So it became mixed," meaning: because of Our sending it down to it, "because of its softness and delicateness," the vegetation of the earth generally in its belly, "of what people eat," meaning: all of it, "and the livestock" from grains, fruits, and vegetables, so it appeared on its surface "until" and it continued to grow and increase in beauty and mass; and when fertility is the origin, He expressed it with the tool of affirmation, saying: "When" and when the beauty of vegetation is dependent on fertility, it was as if the water was giving it to it, so it takes it, He said: "The earth took its adornment and became adorned" with types of that vegetation, an adornment of which some is clear and some is hidden - by what is understood from the blending. "And its people thought," meaning: a very confirmed thought based on what was indicated by the shift from "their ability" to "that they are capable," meaning: their ability is established "upon it" by gathering the fruit from that vegetation, and they were ignorant of the knowledge of the outcome. So when that was: "Our command came to it," [meaning] that which is not to be rejected from extreme cold or heat, "by night or by day, and We made it," meaning: its planting and its adornment by its greatness because of that command and its consequence of destruction, "harvested." And He expressed it with what is understood as a strong and stable meaning by saying: "As if" meaning: as if it "had not been rich," meaning: it had not been wealthy, that is, settled, beautiful, rich, abundant, desired in it, meaning: its planting and its adornment "yesterday." So the state of the world in the quickness of its end and the passing of its delights after its great coming is like the state of the vegetation of the earth in its dryness and its going to ruin after it had wrapped and adorned the earth with its greenness and colors and beauty.

And when this parable was in complete accordance with the Hour, it shook the listener, and his amazement increased at the beauty of its detail after its foundation. So it was said in response to him: ﴿Thus﴾ meaning: like this magnificent detail ﴿We detail﴾ meaning: a great detailing ﴿the verses for a people﴾ meaning: people who are strong in them, having the strength to attempt what they desire ﴿they reflect﴾ meaning: they renew their thinking in a manner of continuity and exaggeration; and the parable: is a common saying in which the second state is compared to the first; and the mixing: is the intermingling of things with one another; and the adornment: is the beauty of colors.