Surah Luqman, Ayah 31

Allah tells us that He is the One Who has subjugated the sea so that ships may sail on it by His com"See the full heading"Allah tells us that He is the One Who has subjugated the sea so thatships may sail on it by His command, i.e. , by His grace and power

For if He did not give the water the strength to carry the ships, they would not sail. So he says:

لِيُرِيَكُمْ مِّنْ ءَايَـتِهِ

(that He may show you of His signs) meaning, by His power.

إِنَّ فِى ذلِكَ لآيَـتٍ لِّكُلِّ صَبَّارٍ شَكُورٍ

(Verily, in this are signs for every patient, grateful.) means, every person who bears difficulty with patience and who gives thanks at times of ease. Then Allah says:

وَإِذَا غَشِيَهُمْ مَّوْجٌ كَالظُّلَلِ

(And when waves cover them like shades,) meaning, like mountains or clouds,

دَعَوُاْ اللَّهَ مُخْلِصِينَ لَهُ الدِّينَ

(they invoke Allah, making their invocations for Him only.) This is like the Ayah,

وَإِذَا مَسَّكُمُ الْضُّرُّ فِى الْبَحْرِ ضَلَّ مَن تَدْعُونَ إِلاَ إِيَّاهُ

(And when harm touches you upon the sea, those that you call upon vanish from you except Him) (17:67).

فَإِذَا رَكِبُواْ فِى الْفُلْكِ

(And when they embark on a ship...) (29:65) Then Allah says:

فَلَمَّا نَجَّـهُمْ إِلَى الْبَرِّ فَمِنْهُمْ مُّقْتَصِدٌ

(But when He brings them safe to land, there are among them those that stop in between.) Mujahid said, "This refers to the disbelievers -- as if he interpreted the word Muqtasid to mean denier as in the Ayah,

فَلَمَّا نَجَّاهُمْ إِلَى الْبَرِّ إِذَا هُمْ يُشْرِكُونَ

(but when He brings them safely to land, behold, they give a share of their worship to others) (29:65).

وَمَا يَجْحَدُ بِـَايَـتِنَآ إِلاَّ كُلُّ خَتَّارٍ كَفُورٍ

(And Our Ayat are not denied except by every Khattar Kafur.) Khattar means one who betrays or stabs in the back. This was the view of Mujahid, Al-Hasan, Qatadah and Malik, narrating from Zayd bin Aslam. This word describes a person who, whenever he makes a promise, breaks his promise, and it refers to the worst form of treachery.

كَفُورٌ

(Kafur) means, one who denies blessings and does not give thanks for them, rather he forgets them and does not remember them.

This has been stated in the verse: وَلَوْ أَنَّمَا فِي الْأَرْ‌ضِ مِن شَجَرَ‌ةٍ أَقْلَامٌ (27) through a similitude. Says the similitude: 'If all trees that are on the earth were to be pens (or pens were to be made of all branches on them) and the ocean (converted into ink) is supported by seven seas following it, the words of Allah would (still) not come to an end.' The expression: کلمات اللہ (kalimatul-lah, i.e. the words of Allah) means His knowledge and wisdom (Ruh ul-Maani and Mazhari) which includes the manifestations of Divine power and Divine blessings. Then, the 'seven seas', referred to here, do not mean that there are seven seas present elsewhere. Instead of that, this is a manner of saying: Suppose if this ocean were to be replenished with seven more oceans, still then, all these words of Allah could not be committed to writing. Even the number of 'seven' appears here as a part of the example. No restriction is intended. Another verse of the Qur'an proves it. There it was said:

Man’s existence in itself is the proof of creation. And when one’s existence is possible, the coming into existence of other lives is equally possible. It is on a parallel with man’s experience of hearing one voice and seeing one scene, which leads him to feel that it should be possible to hear many voices and see many scenes. The merging of night into day and day into night is the visible manifestation of what is known in the present age as the axial rotation of the earth. The continuous rotation of the earth on its axis with perfect precision and several other events of similar type show that the Creator and Lord of this Universe is unimaginably great. In these circumstances, who else can be worshipped except He? And who can be given the place of supreme importance in one’s life? The fact is that giving a position of greatness to anybody other than God is nothing but falsehood, because nobody except God possesses greatness.