Tafseer of The Pilgrimage · Al-Hajj · 22:65
Do you not see that Allah has subjected to you whatever is on the earth and the ships which run through the sea by His command? And He restrains the sky from falling upon the earth, unless by His permission. Indeed Allah, to the people, is Kind and Merciful.
Important: The Arabic source text is always authoritative. This translation is a study aid and has not been verified by scholars — do not use it as a basis for religious proof or for deriving rulings (ahkam). When in doubt, always consult the Arabic text and a qualified scholar.
The exposition of the tafsīr of the saying of Allah the Exalted: أَلَمْ تَرَ أَنَّ اللَّهَ سَخَّرَ لَكُمْ مَا فِي الأَرْضِ وَالْفُلْكَ تَجْرِي فِي الْبَحْرِ بِأَمْرِهِ وَيُمْسِكُ السَّمَاءَ أَنْ تَقَعَ عَلَى الأَرْضِ إِلا بِإِذْنِهِ إِنَّ اللَّهَ بِالنَّاسِ لَرَءُوفٌ رَحِيمٌ (65)
(Have you not seen that Allah has made subservient to you whatever is on the earth, and the ships that sail upon the sea by His command, and that He withholds the heaven from falling upon the earth except by His permission? Truly, Allah is, toward mankind, full of compassion and merciful.)
Allah, exalted is His praise, says: Have you not seen, O people, that Allah has made subservient to you whatever is on the earth of beasts and cattle? All of this is at your disposal, that you may use it for whatever you need. وَالْفُلْكَ تَجْرِي فِي الْبَحْرِ بِأَمْرِهِ — that is to say: and He has made subservient to you the ships, which sail upon the sea by His command, by which is meant: by His power and His subjecting them to you in that manner.
The Qurʾān-reciters have differed among themselves over the reading of His saying وَالْفُلْكَ تَجْرِي : the majority of the reciters in the cities read it as al-fulka in the accusative (naṣb), in the sense of: He made subservient to you whatever is on the earth and the ships — as a conjunction (ʿaṭf) upon "mā", and also upon a repeated "anna": and that the ships sail. It has been transmitted from al-Aʿraj that he read it in the nominative (rafʿ), as the initial word of a sentence. The reading in the accusative is, however, the reading that we prefer, on account of the consensus of the authoritative reciters concerning it.
وَيُمْسِكُ السَّمَاءَ أَنْ تَقَعَ عَلَى الأَرْضِ — that is to say: and He withholds the heaven by His power so that it does not fall upon the earth, except by His permission. The meaning of His saying أَنْ تَقَعَ is: so that it does not fall.
إِنَّ اللَّهَ بِالنَّاسِ لَرَءُوفٌ رَحِيمٌ — in the sense of: He is, toward them, possessor of compassion and mercy. Out of His compassion for them and His mercy toward them He has withheld the heaven from falling upon the earth except by His permission, and He has made subservient to you what He has described in this verse, as a favor from Him to you therein.
