(39:21) “We did indeed offer the Trust to the heavens and the earth and the mountains; but they refused to undertake it, being afraid thereof; but man undertook it, he was indeed unjust and foolish!”(33:72) “Had We sent down this Qur’an on a mountain, verily, you would have seen it humble itself and cleave asunder for fear of Allah. Such are the similitudes We propound to men that they may reflect.”(59:21) “Then what is amiss with them that they turn away from all admonition * As though they were terrified asses * Fleeing from a lion?”(74:49-51) “The parable of those who spend their substance in the way of Allah is that of a grain of corn: it grows seven ears, and each ears has a hundred grains.”(2:261) “... is the parable of a garden, high and fertile; heavy rain falls on it...”(2:265)
An example of showing how hypocrisy and harmful acts nullify good works: “Does any of you wish that he should have a garden with date palms and vines and streams flowing underneath, and all kinds of fruit, while he is stricken with old age, and his children are not strong [enough to look after themselves] — that it should be caught in a whirlwind, and with fire therein, and be burnt up?”(2:266) “The parable of those who reject their Lord is that their works are as ashes on which the wind blows furiously on a tempestuous day: no power have they over aught that they have earned; that is the straying far, far [from the goal].”(14:18)
Some examples from the categories of speech; [examples of] the station of description (maqa\m al-was≥f): “Moreover, He comprehended in His design the sky, and it had been [as] smoke; he said to it and to the earth: Come you together, willingly or unwillingly. They said: We do come [together] in willing obedience.”(41:11) “Then the word went forth: O earth! swallow up your water, and O sky! withhold [your rain]! And the water abated, and the matter was ended. The ark rested on Mount Judi, and the word went forth: Away with those who do wrong!”(11:44) “See you not how Allah sets forth a parable?– A goodly tree, whose root is firmly fixed, and its branches [reach] to the heavens – * It brings forth its fruit at all times, by the leave of its Lord.”(14:24-5) “And the parable of an evil word is that of any evil tree: it is torn up by the root from the surface of the earth; it has no stability.”(14:26)
A verse:
And the night flowing, the stars showering onto the Milky Way
Like a garden, its flaring blossoms extinguished in the river.1
By Ibn al-Nabīh al-Miṣrī (d. 619 H.) in praise of the Ayyubids.