And when these actions indicate resurrection but in a type of concealment, He followed them with the fruit of this action as a clear proof of that. He said, expressing by the revival of that, justifying the purity intended by it, which is the distance from all that defiles it, such as salinity, bitterness, or foulness, and similar things that prevent the completeness of benefiting from it: "That We may give life by it." That is, by the water.

And when the intended purpose of reviving the earth with vegetation is to revive the lands for the revival of its people, He said: "A city." And if it were salty or bitter or foul, there would not be in it the power of revival. And when He disliked that the specification of the lands be understood, the description was made considering the place to encompass every location, so He said: "Dead." That is, by what We cause to grow in it from vegetation after it had become shattered and then soil, so that this may be a clear sign of Our ability to resurrect the dead after they have become dust.

And when He was in the station of greatness, by manifesting the power, He added to being a sign of resurrection by manifesting the vegetation which is a benefit for grazing, another great benefit in preservation from death by drinking, just as the sign of revival was a means of preservation by eating. He said: "And We give it to drink." That is, the water, and it is from 'asqāhu' - an increase of 'sāqāhu', and they are two languages.

Ibn al-Qatta‘ said: "I gave you a drink and I caused you to drink," and Allah, the Exalted, treats His servants and His land likewise.

"From what We created," that is, by Our greatness.

And when the blessing of sending down water upon the cattle and the people of the wilderness and similar ones is greater, because the birds and wild animals are distant in seeking and do not lack what they drink, He specified it and said: "Cattle." And He preceded the vegetation because it is by it that the cattle have life, and the cattle because they are by them the completeness of human life. So when what suffices them from drinking is found, it is divided by the easiest means. And He followed that with His saying: "And many people." That is, by preserving it for them in the ponds for the people of the wilderness who are distant from rivers and springs and others whom We intend, because He, the Exalted, does not give drink to all people equally, but He sends rain upon whom He wills and withholds it from whom He wills, and He gives drink to some people from other than that. And for this reason, He made the mentioned things indefinite - as has been narrated from Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with both of them, that he said: "There is no year that is wetter than another year, but Allah has divided that among His servants as He wills" - and he recited this verse.

And al-Baghawi said: Ibn Ishaq, Ibn Jurayj, and Muqatil mentioned and reported it from Ibn Mas'ud, may Allah be pleased with him, who raised it, saying: "There is no year that is wetter than another, but Allah has divided the provisions, placing them in the worldly heavens in this region, from which every year descends a known measure and known weight. So if a people commit sins, Allah turns that to others, and if they all disobey, Allah, the Exalted, directs that to the deserts and the seas." - End.

The secret in that is that it was their right to purify their outward and inward selves, and to purify others so that they may correspond to His state of purity. So when they became defiled by impurities, they caused Him to turn away from them.