'In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful' His saying, exalted and glorified is He: "And We sent the winds as bearers of good news, and We sent down from the sky water, and We gave it to you to drink, and you are not its keepers." "And indeed, We are the ones who give life and cause death, and We are the inheritors." "And We have certainly known the preceders among you, and We have certainly known the later ones." "And indeed, your Lord is the one who will gather them; indeed, He is Wise and Knowing." "And We created man from clay like that of pottery." "And the jinn We created before from scorching fire." It is said: The she-camel and the tree are said to be 'lqihah' if they are pregnant. The winds pollinate the trees and the clouds. The meaning regarding the wind is that it is a bearer of good news, not merely a pollinator. The description of the winds with [lqihah] can be understood in four ways: The first and foremost is that making it a bearer of good news is literal. This is because some winds bring punishment, harm, or fire, while others bring mercy, rain, victory, or other benefits. Thus, it carries what the divine power has ordained for it, or what it has picked up from the air, dust, or water over which it has passed. So, it is a bearer of good news in this sense, even if it also pollinates others and directs its benefit to them. The Arabs refer to the southern wind as the bearer and pollinator, and they refer to the northern wind as the obstructive and barren, because it removes the clouds. Abu Huraira reported that the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, said: "The southern wind is from Paradise, and it is the bearers of good news mentioned by Allah, and it has benefits for the people." From this is the saying of Al-Tirmidhi: 'Worried for the branches of the winds, for the bearer of good news and the obstructive.' And the saying of Abu Wajzah: 'From the offspring of the wanderers of the horizons.' So, it made it a bearer with offspring. The judge Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said: This is based on it being a bearer of good news, so there is no argument in it. The second is that its description with [lqihah] is in the sense of their saying: "A sleeping night," meaning: it has sleep and is with it, "and a stormy day," and similar. This is in a figurative sense. The third is that the winds are described with [lqihah] in the sense of lineage, meaning: possessing pollination, like the saying of Al-Nabighah: 'O Umaymah, for a concern, so let me rest.' Meaning: of concern. The fourth is that [lqihah] is the plural of "mullqihah" with the excess removed, as if it were "lqihah," and it was gathered like "lqihah." An example of this is the poet's saying: 'Here I am, Yazid, pleading for a dispute, more disheveled than one tossed by the winds.' And it is only the winds that tossed him, and in this manner, Abu Ubaidah explained it in his saying: "lqihah malqihah," and likewise the expression about it in the book of Al-Bukhari: "lqihah malqihah mullqihah." The majority read: "the winds" in the plural, while the Kufans, Hamzah, Talhah bin Musarif, Al-Amash, and Yahya bin Waththab read: "the wind" in the singular, and it is for the genus, so it is in the meaning of the plural. Al-Tabari exemplified it with their saying: "the shirt of morals, and the land of orphans." The judge Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said:

And all of this, in terms of it, consists of many parts that gather its description. Likewise, "a wind that brings rain" because it is the scattered breezes. Similarly, "a barren land," meaning: every place in it is barren. Al-A'mash said: In the reading of Abdullah, "And We sent the winds to bring rain," and it was narrated from the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, that he said: "The wind is from the breath of the Most Merciful." The meaning of the addition here is the addition of a creation to the Creator, as He said: "from My spirit." The meaning of "from the breath of the Most Merciful" is from His relieving and removing of distress and hardships. So, from the relief by the wind is victory by the south wind, and the abundance of provisions through it, and what it has of service in provisions and bringing rain and other things that are numerous in count. It has been reported that Ibn Abi Quhafa, may Allah have mercy on him, interpreted this hadith in this manner, and he recited in its interpretation:

If the south wind breathes, On the soul of a troubled one, its troubles are revealed.

And this is part of the relief.

And the Arabs say: "Asqa" and "saqa" mean the same. And Labid said:

He watered my people, the sons of Majd, and watered Numayr and the tribes of Hilal.

So he brought both languages. And Abu Ubaidah said: As for when it is specifically for watering the lips, it is only said "saqa." But if it is for watering the land, fruits, and all things, it is said: "Asqa." And as for the one who calls for watering a land or otherwise, it is only said in it: "Asqa." And from this is the saying of Dhī al-Rummah:

She stood by the trace of my she-camel, And I continued to weep by it and speak to it.

And I watered it until it almost spoke to me, From what I expressed, its stones and playthings spoke to me.

The judge Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said:

That Labid's verse is a supplication, and in it are the two languages.

And His saying, the Exalted, "And indeed, We are the ones who give life and cause death"—this verse, along with the verses before it, contains the lesson and the indication of the power of Allah, the Exalted, and what necessitates His oneness and worship. The meaning of this verse is: Indeed, We are the ones who give life to whom We will by bringing him from non-existence to the existence of life, and We return him at the resurrection from his grave dead, and We cause death by removing life from whoever was alive. "And We are the inheritors" means: nothing remains except us, and everything is perishing except His face; there is no Lord other than Him.

Then He informed, the Exalted, of the encompassing knowledge of those who preceded from the nations and those who came later in time, from the time Adam was brought down to the earth until the Day of Resurrection. And He made it known that He is the gatherer for them, the one who collects for the presentation on the Day of Resurrection despite their distance in regions and times, and that His wisdom and knowledge bring all of this to the most complete of its purposes that He has decreed and willed. Al-A'raj read: "He gathers them" with a broken sheen.

The judge Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said:

This is the context of the meaning of the verse, which is the saying of the majority of the interpreters. And Al-Hasan said: The meaning of His saying, "And indeed, We have known the foremost," is: in obedience and hastening to faith and good deeds, and "the last ones" are in disobedience.

The judge Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said:

And if the wording encompasses all who came before and after in all its aspects, the context of the meaning of the verse does not apply except as we have presented. Ibn Abbas, Marwan ibn al-Hakam, and Abu al-Jawza said: The saying of Allah, the Exalted: "And certainly We have known the precedents" refers to a people who used to pray with the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, and there was a beautiful woman praying behind him. Some of the people would advance in the rows so that they would not be tempted, while some of them would delay to steal a glance at her during the prayer. So the verse was revealed concerning them.

Qadi Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said:

And what precedes the verse from His saying: "And We are the inheritors" and what follows from His saying: "And indeed your Lord will gather them" weakens these interpretations, because they obscure the conveyance of the meaning. Muhammad ibn Kab al-Qurazi mentioned this to Awn ibn Abdullah.

And His saying, the Exalted: "And certainly We created man". "Man" here refers to the genus, and the intended meaning is Adam, peace be upon him. Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him, said: He was named so because he was entrusted and then forgot, and thereafter he entered into that since he is from his progeny. And "salsal" is the clay that when it dries, it makes a sound. This is the saying of a group, among them is one who said: It is the clay of pottery, and among them is the saying of al-Farra: It is the pure clay mixed with fine sand. Ibn Abbas said: He was created from three things: from sticky clay, which is the adhesive and good clay, and from "salsal," which is the good earth upon which water falls and then recedes, causing it to crack and become like pottery, and from "hama' masnun," which is the clay in the mud.

Qadi Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said:

And the correct meaning - according to this interpretation - would be to say: "Sallal," but the action was weakened from its origin, and one of the two lams in "sallal" was replaced with a sad. This is the view of the Kufans, and it was said by Ibn Jinni and al-Zubaidi, and similarly by those of Basra. The view of the majority of the Basrans is that they are two distinct verbs. They also said this regarding "tharrar" and "tharthara." Some of them said: You say: The pottery "sallal" when it sounds with extension, and if in its sound there is a reverberation like a bell or similar, you say: "salsal." From this is the saying of al-Kumayt:

In it, the wild beasts perish in their reins, Scattered, they "salsal" in their jaws.

And Mujahid and others said: "Salsal" here is indeed from: "Salla al-lahm" when it becomes foul, so they made the meaning of "salsal" and "hama'" in the necessity of foulness one and the same.

And "masnun" was said by Ma'mar to mean: the foul, which is when "the water has become foul" if it changes, and the context refutes this saying. Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him, said: "Masnun" is the moist, and this interpretation does not specifically pertain to the term. Al-Hasan said: The meaning is: He ordained his offspring upon his creation, which is arranged in "masnun" either to be: polished, well-crafted, or smooth in surface, and it may be from the meaning of "musin" and "sinnain." Their saying: "I honed the knife, and I honed the stone" if you perfected its smoothness, and from that is the saying of the poet:

Then I pushed her to the green dome, walking on polished marble. This means the solid surface, or it may mean the poured material. You say: 'I poured the soil and water,' if I poured it little by little. From this is the saying of Amr ibn al-As, may Allah be pleased with him, to those present at his death: 'When you place me in my grave, then pour the soil over me in a pouring manner.' This is similar to the pouring of the grave. Al-Zajjaj said: It is derived from being in accordance with the path, because it only changes when it leaves the water. So the meaning of the verse is: from a poured clay that is placed some on top of others in a manner and form. 'And the jinn' refers to the genus of the devils. They are called jinn, jan, and jinn due to their concealment from the eye. Wahb ibn Munabbih was asked about them and said: They are of different kinds. As for the pure jinn, they are a wind that does not eat, drink, die, or reproduce. Among them are kinds that do all of this, including the s'ali and the ghoul and similar beings. Al-Hasan ibn Abi al-Hasan read 'al-jan' with a hamzah, and the intended meaning of this creation is Iblis, the father of the jinn. In the hadith: 'Indeed, Allah, glorified and exalted is He, created Adam from all types of soil, both pure and impure, black and red.' This is indicated in Surah Al-Baqarah. His saying: 'Before' is because Iblis was created before Adam by a period, and Adam was created last of creation. 'The scorching winds' in the speech of the Arabs refers to excessive heat that kills, whether from fire, sun, or wind. A group said: The scorching winds are at night, and the heat is during the day. As for the addition of fire to the scorching winds in this verse, it is possible that the fire is of different types and that the scorching wind is something specific to one type of it, thus the addition would be correct at that time. If this is not the case, then this would be explained by their saying: 'The congregational mosque' and 'the abode of the Hereafter' with the omission of a genitive.