The Quran

Preface

وَمِن آياتِهِ أَن يُرسِلَ الرِّياحَ مُبَشِّراتٍ وَلِيُذيقَكُم مِن رَحمَتِهِ وَلِتَجرِيَ الفُلكُ بِأَمرِهِ وَلِتَبتَغوا مِن فَضلِهِ وَلَعَلَّكُم تَشكُرونَ

Yusuf Ali

Among His Signs is this,¹ that He sends the Winds, as heralds of Glad Tidings, giving you a taste of His (Grace and) Mercy,-² that the ships may sail (majestically) by His Command and that ye may seek³ of His Bounty: in order that ye may be grateful.

The theme of God’s artistry in the physical and the spiritual world was placed before us above in 30:20-27. Then, in verses 28-40, we were shown how man and nature were pure as they came out of the hand of God, and how we must restore this purity in order to fulfil the Will and Plan of God. Now we are told how the restorative and purifying agencies were sent by God Himself-in both the physical and the spiritual world.
Cf. 7:57 and n. 1036 and 25:48 and n. 3104.
In the physical world, the winds not only cool and purify the air, and bring the blessings of rain, which fertilises the soil, but they help internatinonal commerce and intercourse among men through seaways and now by airways. Those who know how to take advantage of these blessings of God prosper and rejoice, while those who ignore or fail to understand these Signs perish in storms. So in the spiritual world: heralds of glad tidings were sent by God in the shape of Messengers: those who profited by their Message prospered in spiritual gain, and those who ignored or opposed the Clear Sign perished spiritually: see next verse.