أَلَمْ تَرَ أَنَّ ٱللَّهَ أَنزَلَ مِنَ ٱلسَّمَآءِ مَآءً فَأَخْرَجْنَا بِهِۦ ثَمَرَٰتٍ مُّخْتَلِفًا أَلْوَٰنُهَا وَمِنَ ٱلْجِبَالِ جُدَدٌۢ بِيضٌ وَحُمْرٌ مُّخْتَلِفٌ أَلْوَٰنُهَا وَغَرَابِيبُ سُودٌ · وَمِنَ ٱلنَّاسِ وَٱلدَّوَآبِّ وَٱلْأَنْعَٰمِ مُخْتَلِفٌ أَلْوَٰنُهُۥ كَذَٰلِكَ إِنَّمَا يَخْشَى ٱللَّهَ مِنْ عِبَادِهِ ٱلْعُلَمَٰٓؤُا۟
"Have you not seen that God sends down water from the sky, and that with it We bring out fruits of differing colours? In the mountains too there are tracks, white and red, of differing colours, and others raven-black. And among people, beasts and cattle there are likewise those of differing colours. Of God's servants, it is only those who know who fear Him."
| Field | Expression |
|---|---|
| Plant | Thamarātin mukhtalifan alwānuhā |
| Stone | Judadun bīḍun wa ḥumrun mukhtalifun alwānuhā |
| Living thing | Wa mina'n-nāsi wa'd-dawābbi wa'l-anʿāmi mukhtalifun alwānuhū |
Three separate realms, one shared attribute: diversity. This is a repetition that can be verified from the text.
جُدَد — the plural of judda: the vein, streak or track of another colour seen on a mountain. The lexicographers record the word with the sense of "road" as well.
غَرَابِيبُ سُود — ghirbīb means raven-black; the word is linked with the raven (ghurāb). And the word order is inverted: normally one would have expected sūdun gharābīb. The lexicographers record that this fronting is for emphasis.
This sentence of the verse comes immediately after three separate lists of diversity. The connection must be recorded.
I record this as my own reading, and its ground is the order of the two verses: the sentence is set down not as an abstract praise but as the conclusion of a list of observations. A bond is established between khashya and the person who notices the colours, the veins, the species.
خَشْيَة — root خ-ش-ي: fear grounded in knowledge, a shudder mixed with reverence. The lexicographers record the difference between khashya and khawf: khawf is fear in general, khashya is the fear felt before a greatness that is known.
That is: the bond between ʿulamāʾ and khashya in the sentence is already present in the definition of the word itself. This is an observation about the language.
And the lexicographers dwell on the grammatical parsing of the sentence: innamā yakhsha'llāha … al-ʿulamāʾu — the subject is al-ʿulamāʾ, the object Allāha. That is, "the learned fear God." Some grammarians have discussed the reverse as well; but this is the widespread reading, and the vowelling of the words shows it.
A record per the method (Method): the ʿulamāʾ here cannot be understood as a particular professional group. The context of the verse is the observations of nature enumerated across two verses — and the act of knowing occurs there. I record this as an observation; I do not issue a ruling that narrows the scope of the word.