'Abasa · Makki · ayah 26 of 42

'Abasa 80:26

ثُمَّ شَقَقْنَا ٱلْأَرْضَ شَقًّا

“Then We broke open the earth, splitting [it with sprouts],”

Saheeh International

Essence

The softest green shoot splits the hardest ground because Allah splits it; every harvest begins with a crack no human hand could make.

A reflection

The weakest thing breaks the hardest

'Then We split the earth, a splitting.' The commentators describe what happens between the rain and this splitting. The water settles into the ground and works its way into its depths. It passes into the seeds that were laid there. Then the seed swells, and the shoot rises, and breaks through the surface.

Think about the physics of that moment. A shoot is one of the softest things in nature. You can pinch it in half with two fingers. The ground above it can be baked hard, or frozen, or packed down by feet and hooves. And yet it is the ground that gives way.

Picture a February morning in a churchyard, frost still on the grass. A woman walking her usual route notices, along the edge of the path, a row of snowdrops. Their white heads are bowed. Their stems are as thin as string. The earth they pushed through was frozen solid a week ago. She stops and looks for a long time. Nothing she has ever achieved has been as quietly impossible as this.

The ayah uses the first person of majesty: We split. The earth is not persuaded by the shoot. It is split by the One who commands both.

That is exactly where human pride shrinks. We speak of our 'breakthroughs' in business, science and sport. We are proud when we force our way through. But the real breakthroughs of the world happen every spring, in their billions, done by the weakest things, at a word from their Lord. And none of it needs our applause.

Someone may ask why the Quran keeps drawing attention to Allah's acts, as if He wanted to be admired. He does not need admiration. The reminder is for us. It stops us mistaking our small forcings for real power, and shows us whose power holds up the world.

The next time you walk past something green that has pushed through concrete or frozen ground, stop. You are looking at a splitting that no engineer could design, done by something you could crush in your hand.

The full entry has 4 more reflections, questions to sit with, and "Live it today" - with the words, the roots and the tafsir alongside. Free, no account, works offline.