Al Haqeeqa
108. The verse is not contrasting the situation of drought when the trees are barren, the plants dead and then, with the rain, the earth becomes green. That does not happen. It takes a couple of days for the earth to become green. But rather, the allusion is to the beauty that engulfs the world of plants after a goodly rain comes down after a spell of dry weather. Within hours the earth turns lush green offering a most refreshing sight (Au.).
Shabbir again, “That is how Allah will soon render the barren lands of pagandom into green lands of Islam,.”
109. “Lateef is both ‘gentle and benignant’ and ‘knower of subtleties and niceties’, and is used here in both senses” (Majid).
Yusuf Ali further explains the term, “Latif, as a name of Allah, is as difficult to define in words as the idea it seeks to represent is difficult to grasp in our minds. It implies (1) fine, subtle (the basic meaning); (2) so fine and subtle as to be imperceptible to human sight; (3) so pure as to be incomprehensible; (4) with sight so perfect as to see and understand the finest subtleties and mysteries; (5) so kind and gracious as to bestow gifts to the most refined kind; extraordinarily gracious and understanding. No. 4 is the predominant meaning here and in xii. 100; Nos. 2 and 3 in vi. 103; and No. 5 in xiii. 19; but every shade of meaning must be borne in mind in each case, as a subsidiary factor in the spiritual melody.”
