As-Sajdah 32:5 - Linguistic Miracle

He does tadbīr of the Amr from the sky to the earth; Thumma it ascends to Him in a span one day of which is thousand years of what you count.

The argument continues. Tadbīr comes from the root dāl bāʾ rāʾ which means the back or extreme point of something.¹²¹

Tadbīr means that Allah determines and ordains something from start to its extreme

end; not leaving any loophole or anything left out in its planning, wisdom, its carrying out, and its result. For example, Allah sent down the Qurʾān. He had determined and ordained the sending down of the Qurʾān, from its start to its last verse completely, the stages in which it was revealed, how it was revealed, when each verse would be revealed, down to its completion, leaving nothing unplanned or left out. Everything was preordained and set, from start to finish and everything happened according to His decree. Allah determines a matter by perfect planning, start to finish, by determining it’s every single point in the best manner possible.

Amr comes from the root hamza mīm rāʾ which at its root means an elevated structure

whose top is thick and pointed while its bottom is spread out like a pyramid.¹²² In this context, amr means something that comes from Allah directly, be it a command, decree or whatever. You can create the image in your head. At the top and above the pyramid is Allah and from Him comes the amr that spreads out below to creation.

Amr is different from creation. Creation happens in stages, like the universe that was created in six stages. Whereas amr happens instantly. It is something that breaks the norms and laws of nature. The she-camel that came into existence from a rock, the creation of the human spirit, the miracles that are given to the Prophets, and the birth of Jesus, all serve as examples of amr.

The Qurʾān clearly draws a distinction between the Khalq (creation) and the amr:

أَلَا لَهُ ٱلْخَلْقُ وَٱلْأَمْرُ ۗ تَبَارَكَ ٱللَّهُ رَبُّ ٱلْعَٰلَمِينَ

Listen! To Him belongs the creation (Khalq) and the Amr. Blessed be Allah, Rabb of ʿĀlamīn. (17:54) Allah does tadbīr of the Amr- Allah dictates and governs the Amr from start to its

very extreme end. For example, the spirit inside of us, the rūḥ, is an Amr of Allah as the Qurʾān itself says:

وَيَسْـَٔلُونَكَ عَنِ ٱلرُّوحِ ۖ قُلِ ٱلرُّوحُ مِنْ أَمْرِ رَبِّى وَمَآ أُوتِيتُم مِّنَ ٱلْعِلْمِ إِلَّا قَلِيلًۭا They ask you about the spirit (the Rūḥ), Say; The spirit is an Amr of my Rabb and you have been given but little knowledge. (17:85) Allah first created man, then breathed into him the spirit. This spirit gives us life and our purpose with which we live. Allah has done tadbīr of this. The spirit inside of us, the moment it was breathed into us, to the moment it will leave our bodies, to the moment it will come back to join our bodies again on Judgment day, all of this, has been perfectly calculated, set in stone, pre ordained, and pre determined by Allah with precise, perfect and infallible calculation and wisdom. This also includes whatever happens between these stages.

In the next verses, this surah will zero in on man’s creation itself to explain the difference between khalq and amr. Just as Allah created this universe in stages, where each stage led to the other, so did He create us in the same, exact manner. As a case study of creation and the sending down of amr - as Allah did with the entire universe - the surah will explain the creation of man in the coming verses.

Thumma - I left it untranslated. It is normally understood to simply mean ‘ then’, indicating an order in time but this is incorrect. This thumma is for التراخي الرتبي which

indicates the higher status of something. Allah does tadbīr of amr, and even greater is

the fact that it ascends to Him in a span one day of which is thousand years of what you count - Regarding what Allah says of thousand years being equal to one day, I follow the position of Ibn ʿĀshūr:

أنه تحصل فيه من تصرفات الله في كائنات السماء والأرض ما لو كان من عمل : ومعنى تقديره بألف سنة وقد ، أو بقطع المسافات ، فلك أن تقدر ذلك بكثرة التصرفات ، الناس لكان حصول مثله في ألف سنة فُرضت في ذلك عدة احتمالات

The meaning of its being measured as a thousand years is that, within it, there occur acts of Allah’s governance and management concerning the affairs of the heavens and the earth which, if they were the work of human beings, would require a thousand years to accomplish something similar. You may understand this either in terms of the vast number of actions carried out, or in terms of the distances traversed. Several possible interpretations have been presented regarding this.

The question then comes up regarding the word ascend. The ayah says that ‘it ascends

to Him (Allah). What does this mean? What ascends? Many have said that it means that when Allah decrees something, He decrees it a thousand years before it happens. When it finally comes to pass, the angels ascend with its record and what happened towards Allah. I find this plausible but not convincing.

The next two verses will explain this themselves. One of the features of the Qurʾān is that it explains itself. Many times, when things are not clear initially, the Qurʾān will explain them itself. Allah will now immediately shift to mention the creation of the human being and in doing so, Allah will explain this verse itself.

¹²¹ Al-Muʿjam al-Ishtiqāqī al-Muʾaṣṣal li-Alfāẓ al-Qurʾān al-Karīm, vol. 2, p. 628
¹²² Al-Muʿjam al-Ishtiqāqī al-Muʾaṣṣal li-Alfāẓ al-Qurʾān al-Karīm, vol. 4, p. 2057