3587 Cf.
13:2 and n. 1800. 3588 Cf.
16:15 and n. 2038. 3589 Cf.
2:164 and n. 166. 3590 Note the change of the pronoun at this stage in the verse. Before this, Allah was spoken of in the third person. "He", and the acts of Creation referred to were acts that, in the main, were completed when the universe as we see it came into being, though its slow age-long evolution continues. After this, Allah speaks in the first person "We "-the plural of honour, as explained before (see n. 56 to
2:38); and the processes spoken of are those that go on continually before us, as in the case of rain and the growth of the vegetable kingdom. In some way the creation of the heavens and the earth and animal life on it may be considered impersonal to man, while the processes of rain and vegetation may be considered in special personal relationship to him. 3591 I think that sex life in plants is referred to, as in
13:3, where see n. 1804, though the pairs here may refer to animals also. "Noble" (karim) may refer to the more beneficent plants and trees (and animals), which Allah has created for man's use.