أَوَلَمْ يَرَ ٱلَّذِينَ كَفَرُوٓا۟ أَنَّ ٱلسَّمَـٰوَٰتِ وَٱلْأَرْضَ كَانَتَا رَتْقًا فَفَتَقْنَـٰهُمَا ۖ وَجَعَلْنَا مِنَ ٱلْمَآءِ كُلَّ شَىْءٍ حَىٍّ ۖ أَفَلَا يُؤْمِنُونَ
Awalam yaral lazeena kafarooo annas samaawaati wal arda kaanataa ratqan faftaqnaahumaa wa ja'alnaa minal maaa'i kulla shai'in haiyin afalaa yu'minoon
کیا کافروں نے نہیں دیکھا کہ آسمان اور زمین دونوں ملے ہوئے تھے تو ہم نے جدا جدا کردیا۔ اور تمام جاندار چیزیں ہم نے پانی سے بنائیں۔ پھر یہ لوگ ایمان کیوں نہیں لاتے؟
Do those who deny not see that the heavens and the earth were once a single mass, and we tore them apart, and from water we made every living thing? Will they still not believe?
Two words hold this verse: ratq, a thing sewn shut, and fatq, the tearing open of that seam. The tradition split over the pair, reading it either as the heavens and earth once joined and then parted, or as the sky closed against rain and the earth against growth until both were opened. What follows is a run of ordinary sights, mountains, sky, orbits, set in front of people who had asked for a sign.