And when the parable for their specific worldly life, which had led them to arrogance, was completed, it became the cause of their misery while they thought it was the essence of their happiness. He struck a parable for the worldly abode that is common to all people regarding its short duration and the swiftness of its demise. And that whoever is arrogant because of it is lower than it. So He, the Most High, said: "And strike for them" meaning for these disbelievers who are deceived by the fleeting pleasures, boasting of their wealth and children and the honor of their people. "The parable of the worldly life" meaning that which its description - which they are speaking of - indicates that the opposite of it is the Hereafter, in its variety and freshness, and its captivating nature for souls with its joy, and its dominance over desires with its beauty, and its seduction for those with appetites with its adornment. Then its decay and rapid disappearance. The more they rejoiced in it, and the more they desired it time after time, over the passing days and the recurring months, and the succession of years and the alternation of ages, to the extent that it called upon itself warning against it and repelling the wise and discerning. This is a desire for the everlasting that will last in its joy, and its bliss and happiness. And that parable is "Like water We sent down" by Our greatness and power after the dryness of the earth and the desiccation of what is in it and its disappearance, and by uprooting it as you see it and eradicating it. And He said: "From the sky" indicating the profound power in holding it in the heights and sending it down at the time of need in a beneficial manner. "So it mixed" meaning it was followed and resulted from its descent that it mixed "with the vegetation of the earth" meaning the soil that had been vegetation for a long time in its depths. So it gathered with the water and intertwined and thickened. We prepared it with fermentation and the process that none can do except Us until We brought it out from the earth green, shaking with different colors and varying quantities. Then We dried it "and it became like chaff" meaning dry, broken, and crumbled. "The winds scatter it" meaning it stirs it up and disperses it and takes it away "until it becomes, by the power of Allah, as if it had never been." "And Allah" meaning the One who possesses the attributes of perfection "is capable of all things" from that and other than it, creation and destruction and resurrection, "the All-Powerful" eternally and forever. So do not think that what you see of His power is a recent occurrence.