readied, and the people of Paradise given gardens and orchards. It says in effect: “Since He does these things related to the mountains and the earth before your very eyes, He shall do things resembling these in the hereafter.” That is to say, the mountain at the beginning of the sura looks to the state of the mountains at the resurrection, and the garden to the gardens and paradises in the hereafter. You may compare other points to this and see what a beautiful and elevated style it has.

And, for example:

Say: O God, Holder of All Power! You grant dominion to whomever You wish and You remove dominion from whomever You wish. You exalt whomever You wish and You bring low whomever You wish. In Your hand is all good. Indeed, You are Powerful over all things. ∗ You enter the night into the day and enter the day into the night, and You bring forth the living from the dead and bring forth the dead from the living, and You grant sustenance to whomever You wish without measure.(3:26-27)

These verses describe the divine acts in humankind, and the divine manifestations in the alternations of night and day, and the dominical acts of disposal in the seasons of the year, and the dominical deeds in life and death on the face of the earth and in the resurrections in this world in a style so elevated that it captivates the minds of the attentive. Since its brilliant, elevated, and wide-reaching style is clearly understood with little study, we shall not open that treasury for now.

And for example,

When the sky is rent asunder ∗ Heeding [the command of] its Sustainer, as in truth it must. ∗ And when the earth is levelled ∗ And casts out what is within it and becomes empty ∗ And it heeds [the command of] its Sustainer, as in truth it must.(84:1-5)

This explains in a truly elevated style the degree of submission and obedience to Almighty God’s command of the skies and the earth. It is like this: a commander-in-chief opens two offices to accommodate the matters necessary for fighting, like one for strategy and one for the enrolment of soldiers, and when those matters are accomplished and the fighting is over, he addresses himself to the two offices in order to convert them into something else for some other business. They both say, either through the tongues of those employed in them or through their own tongues: “O Chief! Give us a short respite so that we can clean up the bits and pieces of the former business and throw them out, then you may honour us with your presence. There, we have thrown them out, we await your command. Com-