Surah al-Hijr (The Valley of Stone) 15 : 22

Overview (Verses 21 - 22)

A Clear Plan for All Creation

In fact, the provisions given to every community are determined by God, according to His will. He grants them as He pleases, at the time He chooses, and in accordance with the laws He has set in operation: “There is not a thing but with Us are its storehouses; and We send it down only in accordance with a defined measure.” (Verse 21) No creature owns, or has power over, anything. The resources of everything are with God in His supreme realm. He grants it to His creation, in their respective worlds, according to a defined measure. Nothing is given or provided arbitrarily.

We have here a precise statement, “There is not a thing but with Us are its storehouses; and We send it down only in accordance with a defined measure.” (Verse 21) Its import becomes apparent as man’s knowledge increases and becomes more advanced. The more he knows about the universe and how it is made and operates, the better he understands the Qur’ānic statement. The meaning of the term, ‘storehouses’, becomes clearer after man has discovered the nature of the elements which form the material world, and their composition. Man knows that the basic ‘storehouses’ of water, for example, are the oxygen and hydrogen atoms. The storehouses of provisions we have in the form of green plants and vegetation include the nitrogen which is present in the air, carbon and the oxygen that form carbon dioxide, and the rays of the sun. Examples like these are numerous, giving a clear picture of the import of the expression, “God’s storehouses”, of which man has come to know much, but this much remains only a little of what there is.

Of the things that God sends in accordance with defined measure are winds and water: “We send forth winds heavily loaded, then We send down water from the skies for you to drink. You are not the ones who store it up.” (Verse 22) The Arabic term, lawāqiĥ, which signifies heavily loaded has been interpreted by some according to the scientific meaning of ‘fertilizing’, referring to the fact that the winds carry the pollen from some plants or trees to fertilize the female ones. But this does not seem to fit with the text here. We have to remember that the Qur’ān is very meticulous in drawing its own connotations. What is referred to here is rather the fact that winds carry moisture, just like a she-camel becomes heavy with milk. God then sends down water from that moisture carried by the winds, and He allows man to drink it for his own survival. Yet man cannot retain it all: “You are not the ones who store it up.” (Verse 22) It has not come from the storehouses of human beings, but from God’s treasures. It has been poured according to a well-defined measure.

The winds move, carry the moisture and pour the water in accordance with the laws of nature. But who has determined all this in the first place? It is all determined by the Creator who has set the original law of the universe which gives rise to all aspects and operates all phenomena: “There is not a thing but with Us are its storehouses; and We send it down only in accordance with a defined measure.” (Verse 21)

We note here how every move is referred to God, even the drinking of water: “Then We send down water from the skies for you to drink.” (Verse 22) The expression, asqaynākumūh, given in translation as, “for you to drink”, is given in the Arabic original as, “We send down water from the skies and We make you drink it”. What is meant here is that we have fashioned you in a way which makes you in need of water, and we made the water suitable for your needs. All this is made according to a measure. It is all set in operation by God’s will. This mode of expression is chosen in order to provide an element of complete harmony in the whole scene, so that everything is referred to God, even the movement of one’s hand to take water to drink. The whole atmosphere is one that attributes everything in the universe to God’s will that directly determines every event and movement. His law that controls the movement of stars and planets is the same as His law that controls people’s actions. The first passage of the sūrah referred to God’s law concerning those who reject God’s message, and this second passage refers to His law that governs the heavens and the earth, the wind, water and drinking. All this is subject to God’s will which is linked to the great truth that is behind the creation of the heavens, the earth, human beings and all other creatures.