And when he mentioned the verses of the earth, and concluded with the one in distress, and the one in distress may not find guidance to a way of escape, he followed it with the verses of the heavens, mentioning what is among the greatest forms of distress. He said: ﴿Is there anyone who guides you?﴾ meaning: when you travel by what He has prescribed for you of the upper and lower landmarks ﴿in the darkness of the land﴾ meaning: by the stars, mountains, and winds. And although they are the weakest of them, one may be compelled to rely on them when nothing of the two appears ﴿and the sea﴾ by the stars and winds.

And when the winds were as they were among the signs of travel, some of them were among the signs of rain. He said: ﴿And who sends the winds﴾ meaning: those which are among the signs of travel ﴿spreading﴾ [Al-Mursalat: 3] meaning: they spread the clouds and gather them ﴿before His mercy﴾ meaning: which is the rain, naming the cause by the name of the effect; and the winds by which one is guided in destinations are four: the east, the west, the north, and the south, and they are the weakest of signs. Imam Abu Hilal al-Hasan ibn Abdullah al-Askari said in his book on the names of things and their attributes: The winds are four: the north, which comes from your right when you face the direction of Iraq, meaning: that which is between the rising of the summer sun and the Pleiades, and it is hot in the summer, and its name is Al-Barih. The south is opposite it, [and the east is from the rising of the sun, and the west is opposite it,] and it is said that the south is Al-Nu'ma and the rabbit - this is the end.

And this expression is the clearest of expressions in identifying these winds. Imam Abu al-Abbas Ahmad ibn Abu Ahmad ibn al-Qas al-Tabari al-Shafi'i said in his book on the signs of the qibla: Indeed, the qibla of the Iraqis is towards the door of the Kaaba, all of it towards the northern corner which is by the stone. And he said: The people of knowledge have differed on this matter - meaning: in expressing the locations of the winds - with a significant difference, and the closest to that - based on what I have experienced and observed in Mecca - is that the east blows between the rising of the sun in winter to the rising of Suhail, and Suhail is in Yemen, its setting in the sight of the eye on the back of the Kaaba when it rises. And the author of the dictionary said: The east is a wind whose direction is from the rising of Al-Thurayya to the Pleiades. And he said: And the east is like the west: the wind of the east, because it opposes the west, or because it opposes the door of the Kaaba, or because the soul turns it.

Imam Abu Abdullah al-Qazzaz said: The Saba is the wind that blows from the rising of the sun, and the Qabool is the wind that blows from the rising of the sun. This is because it faces the Dabbur. It is said that it faces the door of the Kaaba, and it is the Saba. Their statements agree, as you see, contrary to Ibn al-Qass. Ibn al-Qass said: The Saba is a wind that brings a pleasantness and lightness, a breeze that blows from between the rising of the winter and the rising of Suhail. It has a coldness that bites more than its blowing, and it pollinates the trees. It only blows at night, its dominion is when the night darkens, until the day brightens and the sun rises. It is strongest at the time of the pre-dawn and between the two dawns. The Janoob blows from the rising of Suhail to the setting of the sun in the summer.

He said in the Qamus: The Janoob is a wind that opposes the Shamal, its blowing is from the rising of Suhail to the rising of Al-Thurayya. Ibn Hisham al-Lakhmi said that the Janoob is the Qibla wind. In combining the Al-Ubab and the Muhkam: The Janoob is a wind that opposes the Shamal, coming from the right side of the Qibla. It is said that it is one of the winds that confronts you from your left side when I stand in the Qibla. Ibn al-A'rabi said: The blowing of the Janoob is from the rising of Suhail to the rising of Al-Thurayya. Al-Asma'i said: When the Janoob comes, good and pollination come with it, and when the Shamal comes, it dries up. It is said to the two that are reconciled: Their wind is Janoob, and when they separate, it is said: Their wind has become Shamil. Ibn al-A'rabi said: The Janoob in every place is hot except in Najd, for it is cold. Ibn al-Qass said: When it blows, its strength in the high and the air is more because it is assigned to the clouds, and the movement of the branches and the tops of the trees. Despite that, you see it gathering the clouds in the sky, so you see it piled up and filled. He said: I heard someone say: Its blowing does not intensify except in fear of rain, and no Janoob has ever blown followed by a Dabbur except that rain fell. It stirs the sea and appears with every complete moisture on the earth, and it is from the winds of Paradise. The Dabbur, he said in the Qamus: is a wind that opposes the Saba. Al-Qazzaz said: It is the one that comes from the back of the Kaaba, and it is the one that opposes the rising of the sun.

Ibn al-Qass said: It blows from the setting of the sun in the summer to the rising of the Daughters of Na'sh, and its strength on the earth is greater than its strength in the air. When it blows, it stirs up dust and sweeps the ground. It raises the tails and strikes the feet, and it stirs up dust most when it bends. You see it as if it is being packed with dirt on the surface of the earth, and you see the trees in the open fields and the sands have a sound from the direction of the Dabbur. Dust has gathered in its origin, and what is near the Janoob is bare, exposed, and ready, and its strength on the earth - and Allah knows best - because 'Aad was warned of destruction by the winds, so they dug wells and took refuge in them. Allah sent the Dabbur, and it entered the wells and cast them out, destroying them until they were annihilated.

And the north wind, it is said in the dictionary: the wind that blows from the direction of the stone. The correct understanding is that its blowing is between the rising of the sun and the Pleiades, or from the rising of the Pleiades to the setting of the eagle. It hardly blows at night.

And Al-Qazzaz said: It is the wind that comes from your left side when I face the rising of the sun. The Arabs say: The south said to the north: I have an advantage over you; I blow and you do not blow. The north replied: The noble does not blow. And Al-Saghani said in Majma' al-Bahrain: The north is the wind that blows from the direction of the pole. And according to Abu Hanifah, it is the wind that blows from the northern pole, and it is Al-Jirbiyah and Al-Shamiyah because it comes to them from the region of Sham. In combining between Al-Ubab and Al-Muhkam, Al-Bawariḥ refers to the strong winds from the north in summer, unlike in winter, as if it is the plural of Barihah. It is said: Al-Bawariḥ are the strong winds that carry dust; its singular form is Barih. Al-Jirbiyah is the wind that is between the south and the east, and it is said: it is the Nakbah that flows between the north and the west, and it is a wind that clears the clouds. It is said: it is the north, and its Jirbiyah is its coldness - as said by Al-Asma'i. And Al-Layth said: it is the cold north. Ibn al-Qasi said: The north blows between the rising of the Pleiades and the rising of the sun in winter, and it cuts through the clouds and obliterates them. For this reason, it was named the obliterating north. He said: This is in the land of Hijaz. As for the land of Iraq and the east, perhaps the south brings clouds and turns them, and it does not rain until the north blows and brings rain. The south and the north are similar because they are both assigned to the clouds. The south drives them away while it is laden, and the north returns them and obliterates them when it pours. Abu Ubaidah said: The north among the Arabs is for the breeze, and the south is for rain and dew, and the west is for calamity. The least of it is that it is a dust storm that irritates the eyes, and the east is for pollinating trees. Every wind from these winds that deviates and falls between two winds is called Nakbah. It is named for its deviation from the direction of the four winds that were described before - this is the end.

And Al-Mas'udi mentioned in Muruj al-Dhahab regarding the mention of the Bedouins among the people and the reason for choosing the Bedouins: A person from the orators of the Arabs visited Khosrow and asked him about certain things, among them the winds. He said: What is between Suhail and the edge of the dawn's whiteness is south, and what is opposite them from what faces them from the west is north. What comes from behind the Kaaba is west, and what comes from before that is east.

Ibn Kathir narrated in Surah An-Nur from Ibn Abi Hatim and Ibn Jarir from Ubaid ibn Umayr Al-Laythi that he said: Allah sends the stirring winds, and they cause the earth to become dry. Then Allah sends the nurturing winds, and they create the clouds. Then Allah sends the unifying winds, and they bring them together. Then Allah sends the pollinating winds, and they pollinate the clouds.

And when what had passed from the signs was revealed, what they were in the darkness of it from weak doubts became clear. The evidence became evident, and there remained for no one any excuse in anything of that. He, glorified and exalted is He, repeated the denial in His saying: "Is there a god with Allah?" That is, the One whose knowledge is complete, and His power encompasses all.

And when he mentioned the state of necessity, and followed it with some of its forms, from which is the darkness of the sea, they were in the sea, sincerely calling upon Him, glorified and exalted is He, and leaving their partners. He alerted them that this necessitates the belief that sincerity to Him is always obligatory. Then he followed it with His saying in a manner of astonishment, turning away from them with the consensus of the ten, turning away like one who has reached the point of anger: "Exalted is Allah"; that is, the doer, the capable, the chosen, who has no equal to Him. "From what they associate"; that is, for indeed, nothing from it can have power over anything of that, and where is the rank of incapacity from the rank of power.