Then it is evidenced by His saying, the Most High: "Did you not see" meaning, O you who are addressed, "that Allah" meaning, the One who possesses the attributes of perfection, of majesty and beauty, "has subjected to you" as a favor from Him, "what is in the earth" all of it, from its pathways and its trails, and what is in it of animals and inanimate objects, and crops and fruits. So He knows that He is not in need of anything from it.

And when the subjugation of sailing in the sea is one of the most astonishing wonders, He said: "And the ships" meaning, and He has made them subject to you, carrying what you desire of goods. Then He clarified their subjugation by saying: "They sail in the sea" meaning, the turbulent sea, crashing with waves, by a gentle wind, with ease and tranquility.

And when the rider in it - with the rapidity of movement and the swiftness of passage - is settled as if he is on land, the significance of its sailing is magnified by His saying: "By His command." And when the holding of it on the surface of the water, with its delicacy, from sinking is a strange matter, like the holding of the sky on the expanse of the air from falling, He followed it with His saying: "And He holds the sky." Then He explained that by saying, substituting: "That it may fall" meaning, with its height and greatness and being without pillars, "upon the earth" which is beneath it.

And when the context necessitated that it must fall due to its dissolution, to prevent its falling because it is a dense and great body, which has no nature except for descending, He indicated to that by His saying: "Except by His permission" meaning, it will fall if He permits its falling when He wants to fold this world and create the world of permanence. And when this greatest generosity and precise management is purely a favor without any need at all, He indicated to it by His saying: "Indeed, Allah" meaning, the One who has creation and command.

And when all inanimate objects are provisions for living beings, it necessitated the precedence of His saying: "With the people" meaning, regarding their oppression, "is truly kind" meaning, by what He preserves of their secrets from deviation by sending messengers, and revealing books, and establishing rituals, which most of them are gathered in the house which He appointed for Ibrahim, blessings be upon him, which is the oneness, prayer, and pilgrimage that leads to piety upon which the surah is built. For indeed, kindness, as Al-Hirali said, is the gentlest of mercy and the most profound of it. The one who is treated kindly is maintained by the care of kindness until what calls for pardon is preserved in its secrecy. Sometimes this preservation is by strength through establishing evidence, and sometimes it is accompanied by the act of creating guidance in the heart. And this is specific to one who has a type of connection with the Benefactor.

"Merciful" by what is established for them generally of ranks based on what He has granted them from the fruits of that preservation from the pleasing deeds, as was previously mentioned in Al-Fatiha, that the Merciful is the specific mercy with that which the Divinity is pleased, and this has been previously established in Al-Baqarah.