42.29
Abbas - Tanwîr al-Miqbâs min Tafsîr Ibn ‘Abbâs
(And of His portents) and of the signs of His divine Oneness and power (is the creation of the heaven and the earth, and of whatever beasts He hath dispersed therein) they are all signs for you. (And He is Able to gather them) to revive them (when He will.
And of His signs is the creation of the heavens and the earth and the creation of whatever He has scattered whatever He has divided and spread in them in the way of creatures dābba this denotes all those creatures which tread yadubbu upon the earth whether human beings or otherwise. And He is able to bring them together for the Gathering whenever He will rational beings as opposed to others predominate in the suffixed pronoun -him of jam‘ihim ‘to bring them together’.
(is the creation of the heavens and the earth, and whatever moving creatures He has dispersed in them both.) means, whatever He has created in them, i.e., in the heavens and the earth.
مِن دَآبَّةٍ
(and whatever moving creatures) this includes the angels, men, Jinn and all the animals with their different shapes, colors, languages, natures, kinds and types. He has distributed them throughout the various regions of the heavens and earth.
وَهُوَ
(And He) means, yet despite all that,
عَلَى جَمْعِهِمْ إِذَا يَشَآءُ قَدِيرٌ
(is Able to assemble them whenever He wills.) means, on the Day of Resurrection, He will gather the first and the last of them, and bring all His creatures together in one place where they will all hear the voice of the caller and all of them will be seen clearly; then He will judge between them with justice and truth.
(And whatever of misfortune befalls you, it is because of what your hands have earned.) means, `whatever disasters happen to you, O mankind, are because of sins that you have committed in the past.'
وَيَعْفُواْ عَن كَثِيرٍ
(And He pardons much.) means, of sins; `He does not punish you for them, rather He forgives you.'
(And if Allah were to punish men for that which they earned, He would not leave a moving creature on the surface of the earth) (35:45). According to a Sahih Hadith:
(By the One in Whose Hand is my soul, no believer is stricken with fatigue, exhaustion, worry or grief, but Allah will forgive him for some of his sins thereby -- even a thorn which pricks him.) Imam Ahmad recorded that Mu`awiyah bin Abi Sufyan, may Allah be pleased with him, said, "I heard the Messenger of Allah say:
(No physical harm befalls a believer, but Allah will expiate for some of his sins because of it.)'' Imam Ahmad also recorded that `A'ishah, may Allah be pleased with her, said, "The Messenger of Allah said:
(If a person commits many sins and has nothing that will expiate for them, Allah will test him with some grief that will expiate for them.)''
42.27-35
Maududi - Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi - Tafhim al-Qur'an
If the context in which this thing has been said is kept in view, it appears that Allah here is alluding to the basic factor that was working in the rebellion of the disbelievers of Makkah. Although they were insignificant as against the mighty Roman and Iranian Empires and their position among the nations of the neighboring countries was no more than of a commercial tribe of a backward people, the relative prosperity and glory that they enjoyed among the other Arabs had made them so proud and arrogant that they were not inclined even to listen to the Prophet of Allah, and their chiefs of the tribes regarded it below their dignity that Muhammad bin `Abdullah (upon whom be Allah's peace) should be their guide and they his followers. On this it is being said "If We had actually opened up the gates of provisions for these mean people, they would have burst with pride. But We are watching over them, and are providing for them only sparingly so as to keep them within limits. " According to this meaning this verse, in other words, is touching on the same subject which has already been treated in At-Taubah: 68-70, Al-Kahf: 32-42, Al-Qasas: 75-82, Ar-Rum: 9, Saba: 34-36 and Al-Mu'min: 82-85 above.
Here, the word wali implies the Being who is the Governor of the affairs of all His creations, Who has taken the responsibility of fulfilling all the needs and requirements of His servants.
"In both": In both the earth and the heavens. This is a clear pointer to the fact that life does not only exist on the earth but on other planets as well.
That is, "Just as He has the power to scatter them, so He has also the power to gather them all together. Therefore, it is wrong to think that Resurrection cannot take place, and all the former and the latter generations cannot be raised up and gathered all together. "
One should note that here the cause of all human afflictions is not being stated but the address is directed to the people who were at that time committing disbelief and disobedience at Makkah. They are being told: `Had Allah seized you for all your sins and crimes, He would not have even allowed you to live, but the calamities (probably the allusion is to the famine of Makkah) that have descended on you, are only a warning so that you may take heed and examine your actions and deeds to see as to what attitude and conduct you have adopted as against your Lord, and try to understand how helpless you actually arc against God against Whom you are rebelling, and know that those whom you have taken as your patrons and supporters, or the powers that you have relied upon, cannot avail you anything against the punishment of Allah." For further explanation it is necessary to state that as regards the sincere believer, Allah's law for him is different. All the calamities and hardships that befall him go on becoming an atonement for his sins, errors and deficiencies. There is an authentic Hadith to the effect: `Whatever sorrow and suffering, distress and grief, and affliction and worry that a Muslim experiences, even if it be a thorn prick, it is made an atonement by Allah for one or the other of his errors. " (Bukhari, Muslim). As for the hardships that a believer faces in the way of raising Allah's Word, they do not merely become an atonement for his deficiencies but also a means of the exaltation of ranks with Allah. In this connection, it cannot even be imagined that they descend as a punishment for sins."
"Who patiently endures": who keeps himself fully under control and remains steadfast on the path of servitude under all circumstances, good or bad; who does not forget himself so as to become rebellious against God and cruel to the people, when favored with good times, and loses heart and stoops to anything when visited by evil times. A "grateful person" is every such person who regards it as a bounty of Allah and not the result of any merit or excellence in himself when he is exalted to any high place of honor in life by a Divine decree, and keeps his mind concentrated on the blessings which remain available to man even under the worst circumstances instead of his deprivations when deposed to the lowest of the low position. Thus, he continues to thank his Lord in both prosperity and adversity with his tongue and heart.
The Quraish, in connection with their business and trade, had also to visit Habash and the coastal lands of Africa, and in these journeys they used sailing ships and boats for crossing the Red Sea, which is a very dangerous sea. It is generally stormy and abounds in submerged rocks which are a serious hazard for navigation especially during the storms. Therefore, the state that has been depicted here by Allah could be fully realized by the people of the Quraish in the light of their personal experiences.
