Ma'arif al-Qur'an
Mufti Muhammad Shafiلَوْ أَنزَلْنَا هَـٰذَا الْقُرْآنَ عَلَىٰ جَبَلٍ (Had We sent down this Qur'an to a mountain, ....59:21) This is a parable that Allah is using to illustrate the fact that if the Holy Qur'an were to be revealed on such strong, firm and unmovable mountain and endowed with intelligence like man, it would have submitted to the greatness of the Qur'an, nay, it would have crushed to pieces. But man is too selfish and proud. As a result, he has lost his natural intelligence and remains unaffected by the powerful message of the Qur'an. This, it would appear, is a hypothetical example, that is 'if mountains had sense or intelligence. Some scholars have stated that reason and revelation both bear testimony to the fact that everything in nature has sense, perception and intelligence, be it a mountain or a tree. Therefore, this is not a hypothetical example. It is a stark reality. [ Mazhari ]. And Allah knows best!