Surah 41. Fussilat, Ayah 10

I.e., in accordance with divine justice, and not with human concepts of "equity" or "need".

Almost all the classical commentators agree in that these "four aeons" include the "two" mentioned in the preceding verse: hence my interpolation of the words "and all this He created". Together with the "two aeons" of verse 12, the entire allegorical number comes to six.

 These four Days include the first two, so the total period of creation is six heavenly Days.

Cf. xiii. 3 and xvi. 15, n. 2038. High above it: the highest mountains are 29,000 feet above sea-level, and the lowest depths of the bottom of the ocean are 31,600 feet below sea-level, so that the vertical difference between the highest and lowest points on the solid crust of the earth is about 11-1/2 miles. The highland areas are the main sources of the water-supply in all the regions of the earth, and vegetable and animal life depends on water-supply.

See n. 4470 above.

Sa-ilin may mean either (1) those who seek, or (2) those who ask or enquire. If the former meaning is adopted, the clause means that everything is apportioned to the needs and appetites of Allah's creatures. If the latter, it means that the needs of enquirers are sufficiently met by what is stated here.