'In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful'

His saying, exalted and majestic is He:

﴿Indeed, the example of the life of this world is like water which We have sent down from the sky. It has mixed with the vegetation of the earth from what people and livestock eat until when the earth has taken on its adornment and has beautified itself, and its people think that they have power over it, Our command comes to it by night or by day, and We make it as harvest, as if it had not flourished yesterday. Thus, We explain the signs for a people who reflect.﴾

The meaning: The example of the boasting of the life of this world and its adornment with wealth and children is that this will lead to destruction, like rain that has fallen from the sky and mixed. Some of the reciters paused here on the meaning: 'the water mixed with the earth,' then continued: ﴿with it, the vegetation of the earth﴾, on the beginning and the preceding news. It is possible - on this - that the pronoun in 'with it' returns to the water or to the mixing which the saying implies. A group has connected it, so 'the vegetation' is raised on that by his saying: 'it mixed,' meaning: the vegetation mixed with one another because of the water. His saying: ﴿from what people eat﴾ refers to crops and trees and the like, and his saying: ﴿and livestock﴾ refers to all the pastured grass.

And ﴿the earth has taken﴾ is a term that has become common in such contexts, like his saying: ﴿Take your adornment﴾ [Al-A'raf: 31]. And adornment (zukhraf) means beautification with colors, and it may come to mean gold since gold is part of it. Marwan ibn al-Hakam, Abu Ja'far, the seven reciters, Shaiba, Mujahid, and the majority read: 'and it has beautified itself,' its origin is: 'it beautified itself,' the 'ta' was made silent to be merged, so an alif of connection was needed. Ibn Mas'ud, al-Amash, and Ubayy ibn Ka'b read: 'and it has beautified itself,' and this is the original reading of the majority. Al-Hasan, Abu al-Aliya, al-Sha'bi, Qatadah, Nasr ibn Asim, and 'Isa read: 'and it has adorned itself,' meaning: its adornment has arrived, as you say: the crop has been harvested, and 'it has adorned itself' in the manner of: it has acted. And 'Awf ibn Abi Jamila said: Our elders used to read it: 'and it has adorned itself,' with a strong noon and a silent alif before it, and this is the reading of Abu 'Uthman al-Nahdi. A group read: 'and it has adorned itself,' which is a language from which the poet's saying comes:

....................... ∗∗∗ When the guides have reddened in the abyss.

And a group read: 'and it has beautified itself,' and the meaning in all of this is: its adornment has appeared.

And His saying, exalted is He: "And its people thought" is about its door. The pronoun in "on it" refers back to the earth, and what is meant is what is in it of blessings and vegetation. This statement contains a comparison of the whole matter of worldly life with this described situation of it. And "until" is a limit, and it is a particle of beginning for its entry onto "when," and its meaning is connected to His saying: "Able to it." After that, the answer began, and the upcoming matter is one of the matters like the wind, the cold, the scorching heat, and similar things. And the division of it into night or day is a reminder of fear and the elevation of safety at all times. And "harvested": is a form meaning 'that which is harvested' and it is expressed by 'harvested' for the destroyed and perished from the vegetation, even if it has not perished by harvesting, as the ruling in both is the same. And it is as if the calamity has harvested it before its time. And His saying: "As if it had not flourished" means: as if it had not enjoyed and had not thrived and had not adorned with its freshness. And Qatadah read "flourish" with a 'ya' from below, meaning the harvested. And Marwan read: "As if it had not flourished" with two 'ta's like "to flourish." And the flourishing places are the inhabited dwellings. And from it is the saying of the poet:

And we have flourished with it and see the ages By it they lead us, the young ones, the delicate.

And in the Mushaf of Ubayy ibn Ka'b: "As if it had not flourished yesterday." And we would not have destroyed it except by the sins of its people. "Thus We detail the verses," narrated by him from Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with them both. And it is said that in it is: "And Allah would not have destroyed it except by the sins of its people." And Abu Darda read: "For a people who remember."

And the meaning of the verse is a warning against being deceived by the world, as it is exposed to destruction and that it may befall it what befell this mentioned earth by death or other calamities of the world. And He specified the contemplators with the mention as an honor for their status, and so that there may be a competition to this rank.