Commentary
And when He, glorified and exalted is He, indicated His power over resurrection through various signs, sometimes in bodies and sometimes in forces, He emphasized this in this surah with clear arguments. He concluded that only those whose inner selves are good can perceive these proofs. Their hearts are softened to the evidence, and their thoughts and reflections soar in the vastness of decrees with the wings of knowledge. He established a comprehensive proof between the power over the entities and meanings, both in manifestation and repetition. Therefore, He directed the speech to the comprehensive name and turned it towards addressing for generalization and appeal through honor. He said, confirming that this indicates His power over resurrection, and there is no doubt that they deny it, as if they are denying it. For there is no separation of one from the other: 'Allah,' meaning the gatherer of the attributes of perfection alone.
And when the definition of the connected was apparent and not misleading, He expressed it without the name of the doer and said: 'The One who created you,' meaning from nothingness. And when the state of man and the foundation of his nature is weakness, and the weakest state is in his beginning, He said: 'From weakness,' meaning absolute, as indicated by the reading of Hamzah and Aasim, differing from Hafs by opening the letter 'dhal.' And it was strengthened by what the other reciters indicated by the 'dhamma,' or from the weak water to what Allah wills of stages, then what Allah wills of the age of the child.
And when strengthening the weak meaning is like reviving the dead body, He said: 'Then He made,' due to a cause and transformation by developing in the stages of creation through what He establishes from causes. And when the intention was not to encompass, He expressed it with the preposition and said: 'After.' And when the weakness from which strength arises is not the same as the first, He revealed and did not conceal, saying: 'Weakness and strength,' with the large eye and the effect from the state of infancy to strength by reaching completion at twenty-one years. This is the beginning of the age of youth to the age of maturity by reaching full strength at forty-two years. If it were not for the repetition of witnessing this, the breaking of the norm in bringing it into existence after its non-existence would be like restoring the old man to youth after his old age. 'Then He made from after strength' in youth, which strengthens the hearts, protects the noses, and elevates the souls due to its courage. 'Weakness,' in response to what has been returned to the original state of you.
And when the whiteness of hair predominates due to the weakness of temperament, He said: 'And gray hair,' which is the whiteness in hair arising from coldness in temperament and dryness, by which the body withers, and it diminishes resolve and knowledge. This occurs from the age of thirty-three, which is the first age of maturity, and by taking in the decrease in action after fifty until the decrease increases in the sixties, which is the first age of old age. And weakness continues until what Allah, the Exalted, wills.
And when this is the prevailing custom and people differ in it, and there are among the people those who criticize age while being strong, all of this necessarily results from the action of choice along with the completeness of knowledge and the fullness of ability. So He said: ﴿He creates what He wills﴾, meaning from this and other than it. ﴿And He is the All-Knowing﴾, meaning the one who has perfect knowledge, for He causes what He intends from the causes for what He wants to bring into existence or to eliminate. ﴿The All-Powerful﴾, so no one has the power to nullify anything of His causes. Therefore, nothing that He intends is delayed from the time He wants it to occur. He has preceded the attribute of knowledge due to its connection to the power that is established for it. Thus, mentioning it is a clear statement after an allusion, and a phrase after a hint.
Explore Other Scholars on This Verse
Compare different scholarly perspectives on Surah Ar-Rum verse 54