Whoever opens the letter 'qaf' of 'al-mustaqarr' (the settled place), 'al-mustawda' (the repository) is a name of a place like it or a source. And whoever breaks it, it is a name of an agent and 'al-mustawda' is a name of the object. The meaning is: you have a settled place in the womb. And a repository in the loins, or a settled place above the earth and a repository beneath it. Or, among you is a settled place and among you is a repository. If you say: why is it said 'they know' with the mention of the stars? [Mawlood said: 'If you say why is it said with the mention of the stars they know... etc.' Ahmad said: 'This difference is not realized and there is no way to the truth, and this answer is merely artificial. The truth is that when it was intended to separate both with a pause indicating the independence of each one of them with the intended argument, it was disliked to separate them with two equal pauses in wording, due to the repetition in that, so it was shifted to a different pause for the sake of improving the structure and coherence in eloquence. Another possibility is in specifying the first with knowledge and the second with understanding, as the intended purpose was to allude to those who do not contemplate the signs of Allah nor consider His creations. The mentioned verse first is outside the essence of the observers and contradicts it, as the stars and observing them and knowing the divine wisdom in managing them is something outside the observer's essence, whereas observing their creation from one soul and their transformations in different stages and varying conditions is an observation that does not exceed the essence of the observer nor go beyond it. Once this is established, the ignorance of a person about himself and his conditions and his failure to contemplate in them is more horrific than his ignorance of matters outside of him like the stars and the celestial bodies, and the measures of their movement and transformations. Therefore, since understanding is the lowest degree of knowledge, as it is the expression of comprehension, it negated from the most horrific of the two categories of ignorance, which are those who do not reflect on themselves, and it negated the lower from the more horrific than the higher degree, thus it was specified to the worst of the two groups in condition. And 'they understand' here is the present tense of understanding something with a broken 'qaf' if he comprehends it even with the slightest understanding, and it is not from 'understanding' with a 'qaf' that is pronounced with a 'dhamma', because that is a high degree. Its meaning is: he became a scholar. This was said by al-Harawi in the context of proving that understanding is lower than knowledge. In the narration of Salman, he said - when a woman came to him asking -: 'I understood', meaning I comprehended, as if astonished by the woman's understanding of him.

And when it is said that so-and-so does not understand anything, it is more blameworthy in common usage than saying: so-and-so does not know anything. The meaning of saying: he does not understand anything is that he lacks the capacity for understanding even if he comprehends. As for saying: he does not know, its limit is the negation of knowledge being present for him. He may have the capacity for understanding and knowledge if he knew. What indicates that the one who neglects contemplation in himself is more ignorant and in a worse condition than the one who neglects contemplation in others is His saying, 'And in the earth are signs for the certain, and in yourselves. Will you not see?' He specified contemplation in the self after including it in what is in the earth from the signs, and He denied the one who does not contemplate in himself with a renewed denial. And our saying in the context of the speech that it negated knowledge from one of the two groups and negated understanding from the other, means by way of allusion, as knowledge was specified with the detailed signs and understanding in them with a group, which implied that there are people other than them who have no knowledge or understanding, and Allah is the Grantor of success. So contemplate this section even if it is somewhat lengthy, for looking into beauty is never tiresome.

And 'they understand' with the mention of the creation of the children of Adam? I said: the creation of humans from one soul and their management among different conditions is subtler and more precise in craftsmanship and management, so the mention of understanding, which is the application of insight and careful observation, is in accordance with it.