In just the same way, the Peerless Sovereign issued the command to the heavens and the earth to annihilate the people of Noah. When they had carried out their duty, He decreed: "Drink up your water, O earth! Cease from your work, O skies! It is finished. Now the waters are receding. The
For example, consider the words like an old date-stalk, withered and curved in,
And the moon We have determined mansions for till it returns like an old date-stalk, withered and curved;18
see what a subtle style it displays. It is like this: one of the moon's mansions is in the Pleiades. The Qur'an likens the moon when it is a crescent to a withered and whitened old date-stalk. Through this simile it depicts for the eye of the imagination a tree behind the green veil of the skies; one of its white, curved, luminous branches has rent the veil and raised its head; the Pleiades are like a bunch of grapes on the branch and the other stars all luminous fruits of that hidden tree of creation. If you have any discernment, you will understand what an appropriate, graceful, subtle, and elevated style and manner of expression this is in the view of the desert-dwellers, for whom the date-palm is the most important means of livelihood.
And for example, as is proven at the end of the Nineteenth Word, the words runs its course in,
And the sun runs its course to a place appointed19
opens a window onto an elevated style, as follows: with the words runs its course, that is, 'the sun revolves,' it puts in mind the Maker's tremendous-ness by recalling the orderly disposals of Divine power in the alternations of winter and summer and day and night, and directs one's gaze to the missives of the Eternally Besought One inscribed by the pen of power on the pages of the seasons. It proclaims the wisdom of the All-Glorious Creator.
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18.Qur'an 36:39
19.Qur'an 36:38