LessonsSupplementary Practice 28 — Comparative Rhetoric of Sūrat al-Aʿlā and Sūrat al-GhāshiyahQuiz

أَفَلَا يَنْظُرُونَ إِلَى الْإِبِلِ كَيْفَ خُلِقَتْ ۞ وَإِلَى السَّمَاءِ كَيْفَ رُفِعَتْ ۞ وَإِلَى الْجِبَالِ كَيْفَ نُصِبَتْ ۞ وَإِلَى الْأَرْضِ كَيْفَ سُطِحَتْ
Do they not consider the camel, how it was created; the sky, how it was raised; the mountains, how they were set; and the earth, how it was spread out? (88:17–20)

A-fa-lā is not simply seeking unknown information; it rebukes inattentiveness and calls for contemplation. The repeated “how” directs attention to four different forms of created order.

The verbs are passive, foregrounding the observable phenomena rather than repeatedly naming the agent. Camel, sky, mountains and earth differ, but their shared role as signs of divine creative power provides a meaningful connection among them.

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Have they not looked? A rhetorical appeal to signs

Supplementary Practice 28 — Comparative Rhetoric of Sūrat al-Aʿlā and Sūrat al-Ghāshiyah

أَفَلَا يَنْظُرُونَ إِلَى الْإِبِلِ كَيْفَ خُلِقَتْ ۞ وَإِلَى السَّمَاءِ كَيْفَ رُفِعَتْ ۞ وَإِلَى الْجِبَالِ كَيْفَ نُصِبَتْ ۞ وَإِلَى الْأَرْضِ كَيْفَ سُطِحَتْ
Do they not consider the camel, how it was created; the sky, how it was raised; the mountains, how they were set; and the earth, how it was spread out? (88:17–20)

A-fa-lā is not simply seeking unknown information; it rebukes inattentiveness and calls for contemplation. The repeated “how” directs attention to four different forms of created order.

The verbs are passive, foregrounding the observable phenomena rather than repeatedly naming the agent. Camel, sky, mountains and earth differ, but their shared role as signs of divine creative power provides a meaningful connection among them.