And when this matter was ambiguous, He indicated it with an observable matter that He created with His kindness and perfected with His expertise to invoke gratitude from His servants for what He has created for them and bestowed upon them of the magnificent blessings by which they sustain themselves. Without it, they would have no survival. He then said, beginning: ﴿He is﴾ meaning alone ﴿the One who made for you﴾ so that you may reach what benefits you ﴿the earth﴾ with its vastness and greatness and the abundance of many of its parts ﴿subservient﴾ meaning made easy, not resisting, receptive to submission for what you want from it, whether walking, the flow of water, planting seeds, and planting trees, and other than that to the utmost of submission, as understood by the form of exaggeration. Although there are places that are muddy where feet sink and where whatever mixes with it sinks, and places that are tangled with trees where traversing is difficult or arduous, and places full of wild beasts and snakes and other than that from obstacles, and places that are towering mountains where traversing is difficult, like the mountain of [UNTRANSLATED-LATIN:sad] between us and [UNTRANSLATED-LATIN:yajuj] and [UNTRANSLATED-LATIN:majuj], it has been reported in the hadith that feet slip on it and do not remain firm, or traversing it is difficult. And there are locations that are sweet or salty seas, if He willed, He could have made them all like that so that they would be of no benefit. So He did not divide them into plains, mountains, pastures, seas, rivers, springs, salty and sweet, crops, trees, soil, stone, sand, clay, and other than that except for a profound wisdom and magnificent power, to be suitable for all that you want from it, beneficial for all that will benefit you in it.

And when the meaning of subservience is as mentioned, it caused His saying to be a representation for the purpose of subservience, for the shoulders of the camel and their meeting point are the softest thing and indicate that the rider may tread upon it with his foot and rely upon it: ﴿So walk﴾ [meaning] gently, acquiring and not acquiring if you wish, without difficulty that would require you to leap or crawl ﴿in its slopes﴾ meaning its places which, were it not for our facilitation of the slopes of animals, they would avoid standing upon them. So how about walking? [And] Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with them, said: It is the mountains - for their subservience is the clearest evidence of the subservience of others. And let your walking in them and your conduct be one of giving and humility and tranquility, in smallness of yourselves and gratitude to the One who has made that subservient to you - and Allah is the Guide.

And when He, glorified and exalted is He, mentioned that He facilitates it for walking, He reminded them that He made it easy for the extraction of goodness and blessings. He said: ﴿And eat﴾ and indicated that provision is above sufficiency by His saying: ﴿From His provision﴾, meaning that which He has deposited for you in it and made it possible for you to extract it, contrary to what you know of your conditions. For indeed, burial in the earth corrupts the buried and transforms it into its essence, as is the case for those whom you have buried in it. Yet, you bury the grain and others that benefit you, and He, glorified and exalted is He, brings it forth for you in the best way you desire. He brings forth for you from sustenance, fruits, oils, and garments that you know. Likewise, souls are difficult like mountains, and if you lead them to goodness, they will yield to you, as it is said: 'The soul is what you accustom it to, it will become accustomed.'

And when the decree for resurrection was for gratitude and a warning against disbelief: 'And worship Him as a reward for His goodness to you and His nurturing of you.' From Him is the origin of all that, and He mentioned what calls for modesty from the master and the shame of His reprimand at the time of meeting Him. He said: ﴿And to Him﴾, meaning alone, ﴿is the resurrection﴾, which is the extraction of all the creatures that the earth has consumed and corrupted. He brings them forth at the time He wills, as each of them was at the time of death, just as He brought forth those provisions. There is no difference between this and that, except that you do not contemplate [and He will ask you] about what you used to do. So, woe to the one who is grateful, and woe to the one who is ungrateful. For indeed, this is the greatest motivator for gratitude and the strongest deterrent from disobedience, especially disbelief, due to what has been established from the need of man, and the goodness [to him] through various forms of kindness.