سورة النحل

Ali ibn Ibrahim (may Allah have mercy on him): وَهُوَ الَّذِی سَخَّرَ الْبَحْرَ لِتَأْکُلُواْ مِنْهُ لَحْمًا طَرِیًّا وَتَسْتَخْرِجُواْ مِنْهُ حِلْیَةً تَلْبَسُونَهَا [And He it is Who has made the sea subservient that you may eat fresh flesh from it and bring forth from it ornaments which you wear]; that is, the various kinds of jewels which are brought out of the sea. وَتَرَی الْفُلْکَ مَوَاخِرَ فِیهِ [And you see the ships cleaving through it]; that is, the ships.

Imam al-Hadi (peace be upon him): In the treatise of Imam al-Hadi (peace be upon him) refuting the view of the people of jabr (predestination) and tafwid (absolute free will), and establishing justice and a station between jabr and free will, it is narrated: ... The first blessing that Allah bestowed upon man is the soundness and wholeness of his intellect and his being favoured over many of His creatures by the perfection of intellect and the faculty of clearly distinguishing between truth and falsehood. This is because every moving creature on the surface of the earth is [alive and] standing and active within itself by means of its senses. But the son of Adam has been favoured over others by means of speech, which does not exist in other creatures and is not perceived by the senses. So it is on account of speech that Allah gave the son of Adam mastery over other creatures, to the point that he became one who commands and forbids, and others are subjugated to him, as Allah has said: 'Likewise He has made them subservient to you so that you may magnify Allah in thanks for having guided you' (Hajj/37), and He said: وَ هُوَ الَّذِی سَخَّرَ الْبَحْرَ لِتَأْکُلُوا مِنْهُ لَحْماً طَرِیًّا وَ تَسْتَخْرِجُوا مِنْهُ حِلْیَةً تَلْبَسُونَها [And He it is Who has made the sea subservient that you may eat fresh flesh from it and bring forth from it ornaments which you wear], and He said: وَ الْأَنْعامَ خَلَقَها لَکُمْ فِیها دِفْءٌ وَ مَنافِعُ وَ مِنْها تَأْکُلُونَ. وَ لَکُمْ فِیها جَمالٌ حِینَ تُرِیحُونَ وَ حِینَ تَسْرَحُونَ* وَ تَحْمِلُ أَثْقالَکُمْ إِلی بَلَدٍ لَمْ تَکُونُوا بالِغِیهِ إِلَّا بِشِقِّ الْأَنْفُسِ [And the cattle, He has created them for you; in them is warmth and benefits, and of them you eat. And there is beauty in them for you when you drive them back at evening and when you send them forth to pasture. And they carry your heavy loads to a land which you could not reach except with great trouble to yourselves]. And for this reason Allah invited man to follow His command and obey Him, because He created him in a sound and orderly form and favoured him over others with the perfection of speech and [reasoning] and knowledge, and granted him the capacity and ability to worship Him in what He has commanded.