His saying, exalted and majestic is He: "From what thing did He create him? From a sperm drop He created him and destined him. Then He made the path easy for him. Then He caused him to die and buried him. Then when He wills, He will resurrect him. No! He has not yet fulfilled what He commanded him. So let man look to his food. How We poured down water in abundance. Then We split the earth open. So We caused to grow therein grain. And grapes and clover. And olive and date palms. And gardens, dense. And fruit and herbage. A provision for you and for your livestock."

His saying, exalted and majestic is He: "From what thing did He create him?" is an inquiry that means to affirm the insignificance of the thing from which He created man. It is a phrase suitable for belittling and magnifying, and the context clarifies the intent. This is similar to His saying, exalted and majestic is He: "For what Day has it been postponed? For the Day of Judgment." And "the sperm drop" referred to is the water of the man and the water of the woman. The majority of people recited: "and destined him" with a strong د (dāl), while some reciters read: "and he destined him" with a softened د (dāl). The meaning is: He made him with a known measure of the limbs, creation, lifespan, and other aspects of his being, according to His will, exalted is He, in the creation of each individual.

The interpreters have differed in the meaning of His saying: "Then He made the path easy for him." Ibn Abbas, Qatadah, Abu Salih, and Al-Suddi said: It is the path of exiting from the womb of the woman and her belly. Al-Hasan said: What it means is that the path is the path of sound understanding leading to faith, and its ease for him is the gift of reason. Mujahid said: He meant the path in general, the name of the genus in "guidance and misguidance," meaning: He made some people for this and some for that, as His saying, exalted and majestic is He: "Indeed, We guided him to the path, whether grateful or ungrateful."

And His saying, exalted and majestic is He: "Then He caused him to die and buried him" means: It is a command to make for him a grave, and in that is an honor so that he is not thrown away like other animals. The one who buries is the one who takes care of placing the deceased in his grave, and the one who commands the burial of the deceased is the one who oversees it. And "He will resurrect him" means: He will give him life again. It is said: He resurrected the dead, and Allah resurrected him. And His saying, exalted and majestic is He: "When He wills" means: when the time that He has willed arrives, which is the Day of Resurrection. Some reciters read: "When He wills to resurrect him" with the two hamzah's being pronounced, while the majority of people read: "When He wills to resurrect him" with a lengthening and an easing of the first hamzah. Shu'ayb ibn Abi Hamzah read: "When He wills, He will resurrect him," and Al-Amash read: "When He resurrects him" with one hamzah.

'And His saying, the Most High: "Nay, he has not yet fulfilled what He has been commanded" is a response to what the disbelievers may have as objections to these narrated words. It is a definitive negation of man's obedience to his Lord, and it affirms that he has neglected the right of Allah, the Most High, and has not fulfilled what he has been commanded. Mujahid said: No one will ever fulfill what has been made obligatory upon him. Then the Most High commanded man to reflect and consider his food and the evidence in it. Ubayy ibn Ka'b, Ibn Abbas, Al-Hasan, Mujahid, and others went to the meaning of his food when it becomes waste, so that he may contemplate where the outcome of this world leads, and on what do its people perish, and how its wheel turns. This is similar to what has been narrated from Ibn Umar that when a person passes away, a king takes hold of his forelock at the time of his departure and directs his gaze towards his direction, stopping him and admiring him. This benefits the one who has intellect. The majority went to the meaning of the verse: Let him look at his provisions and how Allah, the Most High, has facilitated them for him through these mentioned means of pouring water and splitting the earth. It is narrated that a man was hosted by a worshipper, who presented to him a dry loaf. It seemed that the man found it unappealing, so he said to him: Eat it, for indeed Allah, the Most High, has not bestowed it and completed it until three hundred sixty workers, the water, the wind, and the sun, have labored in it.

And Asim, Hamzah, and Al-Kisai read: "Indeed, We poured" with the opening of the 'alif' as an alternative reading. This is the reading of Al-A'raj, Ibn Wathab, and Al-Amash. Some people rejected this grammatical interpretation by saying that the second is not from the first and it is not as they rejected; for the meaning is: Let man look at Our blessings in his food, so the alternative is arranged and correct. "And We" is in the position of a genitive case. The majority read: "Indeed, We poured" with the kasra on the 'alif' as a new interpretation of food. Some readers read: "Anna" meaning how, as mentioned by Abu Hatim. The pouring of water is the rain, and splitting the earth is through plants.

And "the grain" is the plural of a grain - with the opening of the 'ha' - and it is everything that people take and cultivate, like wheat and barley and similar things. And the grain - with the kasra of the 'ha' - is everything that grows from seeds and is not cultivated or taken care of. And "the fodder" some linguists said is the clover. This is weak in my opinion, for clover is for animals, so it falls under "the father." Abu Ubaidah said: The fodder is the fresh one. Al-Hasan said: It is the fodder. The people of Mecca call the clover 'the fodder.' Tha'alab said: Because it is cut every day. What I say is that the fodder here is everything that is cut for the son of Adam to eat fresh from the plants, like greens and herbs and similar things, for it is a significant part of food, and there is no mention of it in the verse except in this wording.

'Al-ghalabu' is the strong, soft, thick one. 'Al-hadiqatu' is the trees that have surrounded a wall or similar. 'Al-abbu' is the pasture, as said by Ibn Abbas, Mujahid, Ibn Zayd, and Qatadah. Al-Dahhak said: 'Al-abbu' is the straw, and there is strangeness in the wording. Abu Bakr and Umar, may Allah be pleased with them, paused in interpreting it. 'Mata'an' is in the accusative as a source, and the meaning is: you enjoy it, you and your livestock. So, the son of Adam is in the seven mentioned, and the livestock is in the pasture.