أَلَمْ تَرَ أَنَّ ٱللَّهَ سَخَّرَ لَكُم مَّا فِى ٱلْأَرْضِ وَٱلْفُلْكَ تَجْرِى فِى ٱلْبَحْرِ بِأَمْرِهِۦ وَيُمْسِكُ ٱلسَّمَآءَ أَن تَقَعَ عَلَى ٱلْأَرْضِ إِلَّا بِإِذْنِهِۦ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ بِٱلنَّاسِ لَرَءُوفٌ رَّحِيمٌ
A-lam tara anna'llāha sakhkhara lakum mā fi'l-arḍi wa'l-fulka tajrī fi'l-baḥri bi-amrih · Wa yumsiku's-samāʾa an taqaʿa ʿala'l-arḍi illā bi-idhnih · Inna'llāha bi'n-nāsi la-raʾūfun raḥīm
"Have you not seen that God has made subservient to you whatever is on the earth, and the ships that run upon the sea by His command? And He holds the sky from falling upon the earth except by His leave. God is most kind to people, most merciful."
The root م-س-ك: to hold, not to let go, to grasp. Imsāk — a holding; the lexicographers attach misk to this root as well (that which holds a scent).
And the word order of the verb must be recorded: yumsiku's-samāʾa an taqaʿa — literally, "He holds the sky from falling".
I record this as an observation: the verse describes the sky's standing not as a balance but as a holding. The present state, that is, is not described as continuing of itself; it is described as the result of a continual holding.
Per the method (Method) I draw a limit: I derive from this verse no scientific claim about gravitation or the motion of heavenly bodies. What the verse establishes is not a description of physics but a record of dependence: the state depends upon a holding from outside.
إِلَّا بِإِذْنِهِ — a note of exception. Neither its not falling nor its falling, therefore, lies outside the scope of that same leave. The verse does not report an absolute impossibility.
رَءُوف — root ر-أ-ف: a fine-grained compassion. The lexicographers observe a difference between raʾfa and raḥma and generally give it thus: raʾfa is finer and more particular; raḥma is more encompassing. I transmit this distinction as it is transmitted.
And where the two attributes stand in this verse is worth recording: after speaking of the sky, the sea and the earth, the verse names man at the close: bi'n-nāsi la-raʾūfun raḥīm. The scale descends from the largest to the smallest.