His saying, exalted and majestic is He: "Did you not see that Allah drives clouds, then He brings them together, then He makes them into heaps, and you see the rain coming forth from within them? And He sends down from the sky mountains of [ice] in which is [hail], and He strikes with it whom He wills and turns it away from whom He wills. The flash of His lightning almost takes away the sight." "Allah alternates the night and the day. Indeed, in that is a lesson for those of insight."

"The vision" in this verse is the vision of the eye, and the meaning is: the command of Allah and His power. And "He drives" means: He brings forth, and driving is only used in the context of driving something heavy and pushing it, like clouds and camels that are driven. As Al-Farazdaq said:

"............................. on camels that are driven by the reins."

And the merchandise that is driven is that which requires intercession and improvement, like the driving of something heavy. From this is the saying of Habib regarding gray hair: "And we drive it." And Sibawayh always says in his speech: "So you drive it to such and such," meaning you bring it forth heavy and slow.

And His saying, exalted is He: "Then He brings them together" means between the separated parts of the clouds themselves; because the concept of clouds implies that there are gaps between them. This is like saying: "I sat between the houses," and if "between" were added to a singular noun, it would only be correct if you meant another, you do not say: "I sat between the house" unless you mean: "and between such and such."

Warsh from Nafi does not pronounce a hamzah in "He brings together," and Qalun from Nafi, while the others pronounce a hamzah in "He brings together," and this is the original.

And "the heaps" are that which some of it rises over some of it and thickens, and the Arabs say: When Allah makes the clouds into heaps by the wind, some of it is pressed together, and the rain comes forth from it. From this is His saying, exalted is He: "And We sent down from the rain-bearing [clouds] abundant water" [An-Naba: 14], and from this is the saying of Hassan ibn Thabit:

"Both of them are the milking of the rain, so give me a glass that they have poured for the throat."

And it is narrated "for the throat" with a kasrah on the meem and with a fathah on the sad, so the throat is one of the joints, and the joint is the tongue. And it is narrated with a qaf, Hassan intended the wine and the water that was mixed with it, meaning: this is from the pressing of grapes and this is from the pressing of clouds. This interpretation was explained by the judge of Basrah, Abdullah ibn Al-Hasan, to the people whose companion swore by divorce that he would ask the judge about the interpretation of the verse of Hassan.

And "the rain" is the water, and from it is the saying of the poet:

"So there is no cloud that has rained and rained it, nor land that has retained its retention."

And the majority of people read: "from within them," which is the plural of khalaal, like jabal and jibal. And Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with them, and Al-Dhahhak read: "from its gaps." And Asim and Al-A'raj read: "And He sends down" in the form of exaggeration, while the majority read it lightly.

And His saying, exalted is He: "From mountains in it of hail" has been said: This is a reality, and Allah, exalted is He, has made in the sky mountains of hail. A group said: This is a metaphor, and he intended to describe its abundance. This is like saying: 'At so-and-so's place, there are mountains of wealth, and mountains of knowledge,' meaning in abundance like the mountains. It has been reported from al-Akhfash that he estimated the addition of 'from' in His saying, exalted is He: 'of hail,' and this is a weak statement. And 'from' in His saying, exalted is He: 'from the sky' is for beginning of the limit, and in His saying: 'from mountains' it is for partitive, and in His saying: 'of hail' it is for indicating the type.

And 'as-sana' (shortened): the light, and 'as-sanaa' (lengthened): the glory and elevation in status. The majority read: 'sana' with the shortening, and Talhah ibn Musarif read: 'sanaa' with the lengthening and the hamzah. Talhah also read: 'burqih' with the bā' being pronounced with a dammah and the rā' being opened, and it is the plural of 'burqah' - with a dammah on the bā' and a sukoon on the rā' - meaning a measure of lightning, like 'luqmah' and 'luqām' and 'ghurfah' and 'ghuraf.' The majority read: 'yadhhabu' with the opening of the yā', and Abu Ja'far read: 'yadhhabu' with the dammah. The one who takes away, as if the estimation is: He takes away the souls with the sights, similar to His saying: "It grows with oil" [Al-Mu'minun: 20], and it is possible that it is like His saying: "And whoever intends therein to deviate unjustly" [Al-Hajj: 25], so the bā' is extra indicating an action that corresponds to it.

Then the words of the verse necessitate the news about the turning of night and day, and bringing this after that without a preamble. This is what the eloquent ones are unable to do until they create in the words and preamble with speech, and the rest of the verse is clear.