And He sent down for you eight head of cattle in pairs: He makes you in the wombs of your mothers, in stages, one after the other.¹

This verse comprises the same point we explained in the discussion of the verse, And We sent down iron;² it both corroborates it, and is corroborated by it.

By saying in Sura al-Zumar, And He sent down for you eight head of cattle in pairs, and not saying: And He created for you eight head of cattle in pairs, the Qur’an of Miraculous Exposition is stating that: “Eight sorts of blessed animals have been sent down to you from the treasury of mercy, like the bounties of Paradise.” Yes, those blessed animals are bounty for mankind in all their parts, for their wool or hair becomes the mobile homes and clothes of nomads, good food is made from their flesh, delicious sustenance is had from their milk, shoes and so on are made from their hides, cultivated land is nourished by their manure and men make fuel from it. It is as though those blessed animals are pure bounty and embodied mercy.

It is because of this that like rain is called “mercy” [rahma], these blessed beasts are called “bounty” [an’am]. As though just as embodied mercy becomes rain, so too embodied bounty takes on the form of goats, sheep, cattle, water-buffalo, and camels. For sure their physical bodies are created on the earth, but since the attribute of being bounties and the meaning of mercy have totally predominated over their physical beings, in accordance with the phrase And He sent down, the All-Compassionate Creator sent down these blessed animals directly from the exalted degree of His mercy and His elevated, immaterial Paradise, as gifts from the treasury of mercy.

Sometimes in material worth virtually nothing is art of high worth. Then it is not in respect of the material’s value, but from the point of view of its art that value is given it, like the tiny material being of a fly and the great dominical art within it. Sometimes in valuable material worth five lira is art worth nothing; then it is the material that is dominant.

In exactly the same way, sometimes in some physical material the meaning of bounty and mercy is found to such a degree that it is a hundred times more important than the material. The physical matter quite simply is hidden, and its aspect of being a bounty is predominant. Thus, just as the vast benefits of iron and the many products it yields conceal its material aspect, so too bounty being present in every member of the blessed animals mentioned above has transformed their physical matter into bounty. It is because of this that their immaterial attributes have been considered, disregarding their physical beings, and expressed with the phrases, And He sent down, and, And We sent down.

In addition to these two phrases stating the above-mentioned point in regard to reality, they miraculously express an important meaning in respect of eloquence. It is as follows:

Together with its extremely tough nature, and its being hidden, frequently deep underground, iron is found everywhere, bestowed with the quality of being easily softened. Everyone can therefore obtain it easily everywhere for everything. In order to express this, it states through the phrase And We sent down iron, that it is as though iron tools are sent down from a workbench above like natural, heavenly bounties, and placed in man’s hand they are obtained so easily.

Furthermore, although some animal species from the mosquito to snakes, scorpions, wolves, and lions are harmful to human beings, large beasts like the water-buffalo, ox, and camel, who are important among animals, are extremely docile and submissive. So much so they may be led by even a child. In order to express the meaning of their submissiveness, the verse

And He sent down for you eight head of cattle in pairs

states that being neither wild nor dangerous, these blessed beasts do not resemble worldly animals. They are rather beneficial and harmless like paradisaical animals. They have been sent down from above, that is, from the treasury of mercy.

It is possible that some Qur’anic commentators saying that these animals have been sent down from Paradise arises from this meaning. It should not be said to be lengthy if a page is written on a single letter of the All-Wise Qur’an,3 for it is God’s Word. It has therefore not been wasteful to write two or three pages on the expression And We sent down. Sometimes one letter of the Qur’an is the key to a treasury.

FOOTNOTES

1. Qur’an, 39:6.

2. Qur’an, 57:25.

3. What some Qur’anic commentators intended by saying “Their origins were the heavens” was this: the continued existence of the animals known as “an’am” is through sustenance, and their sustenance is fodder. The fodder’s sustenance is rain. Rain is the water of life and mercy; so sustenance also comes from the heavens. The verse, And in the heavens is our sustenance (51:22) alludes to this. Since those animals’ continually renewed existences lie in the rain which falls from the skies, the expression And He sent down is apt, for it expresses the meaning of having been sent down from the sky.