God says through the verse’s allusive tongue: “O man! I put in the hand of one of my servants who trusted in Me a staff that draws the water of life from wherever he wishes, if you too rely on the laws of My mercy, you may obtain an implement resembling it or close to it. So, come on and do so!” And one of the most important contributions to man’s progress was the creation of an implement that causes water to flow forth from most of the places it is struck. This verse traces farther goals and limits, and ends beyond that, just as the previous verse specified final points far ahead of today’s aeroplanes.
And for example,
I shall heal the blind and the leper and I shall quicken the dead, by God’s leave,1
which concerns a miracle of Jesus (Peace be upon him). Just as the Qur’an explicitly urges man to follow Jesus’ (Peace be upon him) high morals, so it allusively encourages him towards the elevated art and dominical medicine of which Jesus was the master. The verse indicates the following: “Remedies may be found for even the most chronic ills. In which case, O man!, O calamity-afflicted sons of Adam! Don’t despair! Whatever the ill, its cure is possible. Search for it and you will find it. It is even possible to give a temporary tinge of life to death.” And in meaning Almighty God is saying through the figurative tongue of this verse: “O man! I gave two gifts to one of My servants who abandoned the world for Me. One was the remedy for spiritual ills, and the other the cure for physical sicknesses. Moribund hearts were raised to life through the light of guidance, and sick people who were as though dead found health through his breath and cure. You too may find the cure for every ill in the pharmacy of My wisdom. Work to find it! If you seek, you will certainly find.” Thus, this verse traces the limit which is far ahead of man’s present progress in medicine. It hints at it, and urges him towards it.
And for example, the verses:
And We made the iron soft for him2 * And We gave him wisdom and sound judgement in speech and decision,3
which are about David (Peace be upon him), and,
And We made a font of molten copper to flow for him,4
which is about Solomon (Peace be upon him). These indicate that the softening of iron is one of the greatest of Divine bounties, through which is shown the virtue of one of the greatest Prophets. Indeed, softening iron, that is,
Qur’an, 3:49.
Qur’an, 34:10.
Qur’an, 38:20.
Qur’an, 34:12.