The example of those who spend must have a deletion of the added, meaning their spending is like a seed, or they are like one who plants a seed. The one who causes growth is Allah, but since the seed is a cause, growth is attributed to it just as it is attributed to the earth and to water. The meaning of its growth into seven ears is that a stalk emerges from which seven branches spread, each with an ear. This representation illustrates the multiplication, as if it were present before the eyes of the observer. If you say: How can this example be correct when the thing being compared is not present? I say: Rather, it is present in millet and corn and others. Perhaps the stalk of wheat sprouts in fertile, rich lands, reaching this amount of grain. Even if it did not exist, it would still be correct as a hypothetical and theoretical case. If you say: Why was it not said: seven ears, in its proper form of distinction by the plural of few as it was said: (and seven green ears)? I say: This is because I mentioned earlier in the verse: (three periods) that examples of the plural interchange their positions. And Allah multiplies for whom He wills, meaning He multiplies that multiplication for whom He wills, not for every spender, due to the differences in the conditions of the spenders. Or He multiplies seven hundred and increases it by multiples for those who deserve that.