Exegesis of the saying of Allah the Exalted: “Eat and drink from the provision of Allah, and do not commit corruption in the land.”

Is this command for permissibility or for obligation? It is for permissibility. Know that what is permissible in its original state may sometimes be obligatory, and may sometimes be forbidden, and may sometimes be recommended, and may sometimes be disliked, because the permissible may be subject to the five rulings. But a sale may be obligatory, and it may be forbidden, is that not so? It may be recommended and it may be disliked. So here, if we take it as permissibility, it includes obligation in the case where a person fears for his own destruction, for then it is obligatory for him to eat and drink. But if we say that this command is for obligation, then what is other than it, such as permissibility and others, is excluded from it.
And His saying: means from His bestowal, where He brought out for you the fruits and provided for you from the waters, so He did not make upon you anything that would diminish you. Because the reality of the matter is that the one upon whom Allah bestows provision in the form of eating and drinking must, in return for that, give thanks, which is righteousness and reform. For this reason He said: And the meaning of is do not proceed as corrupters. So the meaning of *al-‘athw* or *al-‘athay* is corruption, hastening in corruption. And thus we say: His saying: is a state (*hal*) from the *waw* in His saying: confirming its operative cause, confirming its operative cause. How is it confirming its operative cause? Because the meaning of *al-‘athw* or *al-‘athay* is corruption, so this state is confirming, meaning: do not corrupt while being corrupters.
And His saying: How is the corruption of the earth? By sins. The corruption of the earth is by sins, due to the saying of Allah the Exalted: So this indicates that corruption in the earth is by sins, and that the responsibility for corruption in the earth, such as wars, trials, earthquakes, drought, famine, and disease, is upon whom? It is upon the people of sins. They are the cause and they are the ill-omen for the children of Adam, because Allah says: So I have not found a calamity except by a sin. And what happened to them from the provision of Allah the Exalted, in eating and drinking, was that they should have thanked Allah for it, and continued in His obedience, and kept away from corruption, and started with reform. But what happened?