63 Preface أَلَم تَرَ أَنَّ اللَّهَ أَنزَلَ مِنَ السَّماءِ ماءً فَتُصبِحُ الأَرضُ مُخضَرَّةً ۗ إِنَّ اللَّهَ لَطيفٌ خَبيرٌYusuf AliSeest thou not that God sends down rain from the sky, and forthwith the earth becomes clothed with green? for God is He Who understands1 the finest mysteries, and is well-acquainted (with them).La tif, as a name of God, 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 (Cf. 33:34); (5) so kind and gracious as to bestow gifts of the most refined kind; extraordinarily gracious and understanding. No. 4 is the predominant meaning here and in 12:100; Nos. 2 and 3 in 6:103; and No. 5 in 42:19; but every shade of meaning must be borne in mind in each case, as a subsidiary factor in the spiritual melody.