Surah An-Noor (24) — Ayah 43

(Ayah 43) ➊ {اَلَمْ تَرَ اَنَّ اللّٰهَ يُزْجِيْ سَحَابًا …: ’’ أَزْجٰي يُزْجِيْ ‘‘} To drive gently, to urge, to push. {’’ ألَّفَ يُؤَلِّفُ‘‘} To join two or more things together. By joining the clouds is meant joining their pieces together. {’’رَكْمٌ‘‘ } Means to place one thing over another. { ’’رُكَامًا ‘‘} Layer upon layer. {’’خِلاَلٌ‘‘ ’’خَلَلٌ‘‘} is the plural, just as: {’’جِبَالٌ‘‘ ’’جَبَلٌ‘‘} is the plural. {’’خَلَلٌ‘‘} means a crack, fissure, or hole.
➋ Winds perform several functions. Allah first sends winds, which sweep over the earth and thoroughly clean it. Then He sends more winds, which lift up the clouds. The third winds join the clouds together and make them layer upon layer. Then the fourth winds cause them to rain. See Surah Al-A'raf (57), Ar-Rum (48), and Fatir (9).
This is the second proof of Tawheed, that is, Allah drives the clouds, then joins them together in layers, and it is also His favor that He causes the reservoirs of water in the layered clouds to fall upon the earth in the form of drops, by which the dead earth is revived and humans, animals, and plants receive life. If He were to drop the billions of tons of water contained in clouds spread over hundreds of thousands of square miles all at once upon the earth, no living being could bear that burden, nor would any plant or building remain in which anyone could reside.
➌ { وَ يُنَزِّلُ مِنَ السَّمَآءِ مِنْ جِبَالٍ فِيْهَا مِنْۢ بَرَدٍ: ’’ بَرَدٍ ‘‘} "Hailstones." As you go higher from the earth, the cold increases, and sometimes by Allah's command, the clouds take the form of mountains of ice. Now, it is Allah's grace that instead of dropping avalanches of ice from these mountains, He causes it to fall in the form of hailstones, which causes the least damage. And this is also proof of His power: it is the same sea, the same sun whose heat causes water to rise as vapor, the same earth upon which it rains, every part of the earth is at the same distance from the sea as before, the mountains which scientists mention as causing rain to fall are also in the same place, and despite all the causes being the same, it never rains the same everywhere, nor do hailstones fall everywhere. In some places, sometimes there is rain that brings prosperity, sometimes there is drought that brings famine, sometimes there is a flood that causes destruction, and sometimes there is devastation in the form of hailstones. All this is proof of Allah, the Sovereign's Tawheed, His power, and His authority.
➍ { فَيُصِيْبُ بِهٖ مَنْ يَّشَآءُ وَ يَصْرِفُهٗ عَنْ مَّنْ يَّشَآءُ :} In this, Allah has mentioned His authority, that He causes those hailstones to fall upon whomever He wills and averts them from whomever He wills; the estimates of the meteorological department are rendered useless.
➎ {يَكَادُ سَنَا بَرْقِهٖ يَذْهَبُ بِالْاَبْصَارِ: ’’ سَنَا ‘‘} with the pattern of {’’ عَصَا ‘‘} means shine, brightness, and {’’ سَنَاءٌ‘‘} with the pattern of {’’جَلاَءٌ‘‘} means height and exalted status. This phrase of the verse is like the phrase in which it is said: «{ يَكَادُ الْبَرْقُ يَخْطَفُ اَبْصَارَهُمْ }» [ البقرۃ : ۲۰ ] See also Surah Ar-Ra'd (12, 13).