And when He, glorified and exalted is He, denied their taking of deities besides Him, sometimes by the condition of their being earthly, and sometimes by the condition of their being heavenly, and sometimes absolutely, so that it encompasses both divisions and others, He proved all of that with what there remained with Him no doubt. So His uniqueness indicated that there is no hindrance to what He intends of resurrection and other matters. Their knowledge did not exceed what is in the heavens and the earth. He said, also proving that by what they know, or they should ask about it until they know it, for their ability to do so: "So ask the people of the reminder" [Al-Anbiya: 7], making it clear in a manner of greatness: "Did they not know that" by what We clarified of its proofs and did they not see? But He made evident to the indication that they cover the lights of the proofs out of stubbornness. So He said: "They see" meaning they know knowledge that is like witnessing. "Those who disbelieved" meaning they concealed what they know of Allah's power, which led to their contempt and belittlement, so their sin became unforgiven, and their striving was unappreciated. Ibn Kathir omitted the conjunction 'wa' in what I estimated from what the context also guided to, not for the questioning indicated by the conclusion of the previous verse regarding resurrection and recompense which necessitates denial of those who denied it. So the meaning according to his reading is: We will recompense every wrongdoer after resurrection. Did not the deniers see our power over that by what We created from the creatures? And they only denied Him due to the absence of vision because the bodies, even if they differ, cannot be separated from one another except by a capable being that separates between them. It is evident that it is impossible for one of them to rise above the other, separated from it without a raiser, especially if the one rising is stable without a support. So how is it when it is a great body of large mass? And that indicates the completeness of power and choice and the purity from any blemish of deficiency from a counterpart or otherwise. Thus, their denial was correct regarding not knowing that because they acted contrary to what they know: "That the heavens and the earth".

And when the intention was to inform about the two groups, not about the individuals, He said: "They were both". And when the intention was the intensity of connection and intertwining, He informed about that with a singular source placed in the position of a noun, saying: "as a tightly joined mass"; meaning, two things sticking together like a single foam on the surface of water. And "joining" in the language means: blocking, and "separating" means: splitting. "So We split them"; meaning, by Our greatness - that is, by distinguishing one of them from the other after the perfect creation. And We split the sky with rain, and the earth with various plants after there was nothing of that, nor was it possible for anyone other than Us to have any of it. From Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him, and Ata, and Al-Dahhak, and Qatadah: They were one thing, closely joined, and Allah, glorified and exalted is He, separated between them with air. And from Mujahid, Abu Salih, and Al-Suddi: They were a single layer and He split it, making it seven heavens. Likewise, the earth was a single layer and He split it, making it seven layers.

And when the creation of water preceded the creation of the heavens and the earth, He said: "And We made" - meaning, by what Our greatness necessitated - "from water"; meaning, the flowing water, then the gushing water, "every living thing"; metaphorically from plants and literally from animals. Imam Ahmad and others narrated from Abu Hurairah, may Allah be pleased with him, that he said to the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him: "Inform me about everything." He said: "Everything was created from water." For this reason, the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, responded to the one he found at the water of Badr and asked him: "From whom are you?" by saying: "We are from water."

And when this is from His control over these two realms, apparent and resulting, because they and all that is in them and those who are in them are incapable of having any control whatsoever, this resulted in the denial of their disbelief. So He said: "Do they not believe?"; meaning, that something from them or in them is not suitable for divinity, neither in the sense of partnership nor in the sense of singularity, and that their Creator and the Originator of the growth of animals and plants from them through water is capable of resurrection for reckoning for reward or punishment, after the dead has become dust by water that causes that.