Exegesis of the saying of Allah the Exalted: “They put their fingers in their ears because of the thunderclaps, fearing death. And Allah is encompassing of the disbelievers.”

The subject “they put” refers to the people struck by the downpour, not the rain itself, for the rain has no fingers and no ears. Rather, “they put” refers to those who were struck by this downpour. The meaning is: “Or like a downpour from the sky containing darknesses, thunder, and lightning, which struck a people, so they began to put their fingers in their ears. The fingers are known, and the ears are also known. But in His saying: How is this correct, when a finger does not enter the ear; only the fingertip enters the ear? But because of the intensity with which they insert their fingers, it is as if they are trying to insert their entire fingers so that they do not hear the sound of the thunder. This is evidence of their cowardice and fear. The “from” here indicates causality, meaning because of the thunderclaps sent by the clouds. A thunderclap is a great electrical charge sent by Allah (Mighty and Majestic) to strike whomever He wills. Allah sends it to strike whomever He wills. And it—Glorified is Allah—may strike a man in his bed with his wife, so the man perishes and the woman is safe; or it may strike a sheep being dragged by its owner, and the owner is safe; or it may strike one being driven, and the driver is safe. This is because Allah the Exalted sends it to strike whomever He wills. The matter is not random, but everything is with Allah the Exalted by measure. They say that if all the generators of electricity in the world were to gather at their strongest, they would not reach what this charge carries. This is clear when you see—Glorified is Allah the Great—the lightning. What is between us and it? Distances. And yet, when the lightning flashes, you find that, for example, sometimes it is a span wide. Sometimes, despite its distance, if an airplane were below it at a certain level, it would appear only as a faint star. But this is something great. It indicates the light that appears on the ground from it, and that it is something great. And His saying: is the plural of thunderclap, which is that which strikes a person and kills him. This is the object for the sake of which, and its agent? The meaning is that they do this so that they do not die. But does this benefit them in any way? It does not benefit them. But this is the action of the ostrich, which buries its head in the sand so that it does not see the hunter, but the hunter sees it, so it is not safe from him by that. Likewise, these who put their fingers in their ears because of the thunderclaps are not safe by that if Allah wills to strike them, He strikes them. For this reason He said: So this caution will not benefit them. Then Allah the Exalted explained the severity of this upon them, the severity of the light, after He had explained the severity of the sound, and that because of their fleeing from it and their inability to bear it, He explained the severity of the light upon them.