Wa-ila al-ardi kayfa sutihat (surah Ghashiya: 20)

Tafseer Tafheem-ul-Quran by Syed Abu-al-A'la Maududi

(88:20) And the earth: how it was spread out? *7

Wa ilal ardi kaifa sutihat

*7) That is, "If they deny the possibility of the Hereafter, have they never looked around themselves and considered how the camels were created, how the heaven was raised high, how the mountains were firmly set and how the earth was spread out? When aII these things could be created, and exist before them in their finished form, why can the Resurrection not take place? Why cannot a new world come about, and why cannot .Hell and Heaven be possible'? Only a foolish and thoughtless person would think that the coming into existing of only those things which he has found existing on opening his eyes in the world, is possible. bacause they already exist. As for the things, which he has not yet observed and experienced, he should thoughtlessly pass the judgement that their coming into being is impossible. If he has any common sense, he should think as to how he things which already exist, carne into being? How did the camel possessing precisely the same Characteristics as needed for the beast required by the desert dwellers of Arabia come into being'' How did the sky whose atmosphere is filled with air to breathe in, whose clouds bring rain, whose sun provides light and warmth in the day, whose moon and stars shine at night, come into being'' How did the earth spread out on which man lives and passes his life, whose products fulfil aII his needs and requirements on whose springs and wells his life depends? How did the mountains rise up from the surface of the earth, which stand fixed with earth and stones of different colours and a variety of minerals in them '? Has all this happened without the artistic skill of an AlI-Powerful, AI-Wise Designer No thinking and intellingent mind can answer this question in the negative. Unless it is stubborn and obstinate, it will have to acknowledge that each one of these things was impossible, had an Omnipotent; Wise Being not made it possible. And when an All-Powerful, Wise Being created these things, there is no reason why the Hereafter should be regarded as remote from reason and impossible."