قَدْ خَلَتْ مِن قَبْلِكُمْ سُنَنٌ{Similar situations [as yours] have passed on before you}: The similar situations such as what happened to the previous peoples, like as ‘Ad, Thamud, the Companions of the Rass, and Pharaoh…

فَسِيرُواْ فِي الأَرْضِ{so proceed in the earth}: We say: proceed in the earth, or proceed on the earth? if the one who wrote the Qur’an was a human, then this verse would have been: proceed on the earth, and at the time of the revelation, no one asked the Prophet (saws) why it is (in the earth). had they asked him, he would not have answered them. Because it takes a thousand years for these meanings to be known, so the Prophet (saws) did not explain. However, the human mind now realizes that it is walking in the earth and not on the earth; because the atmosphere moves with the movement of the earth, and it is an integral part of it, so if you say: (walk on the earth), then it means you walk above the atmosphere and not on this earth that we are walking on, so this verse contains a scientific miracle in one letter.

فَانْظُرُواْ كَيْفَ كَانَ عَاقِبَةُ الْمُكَذَّبِينَ{and observe how was the end of those who denied}: Look at the previous nations:

أَلَمْ تَرَ كَيْفَ فَعَلَ رَبُّكَ بِعَادٍ (6) إِرَمَ ذَاتِ الْعِمَادِ (7) الَّتِي لَمْ يُخْلَقْ مِثْلُهَا فِي الْبِلَادِ

{Have you not considered how your Lord dealt with ‘Aad (6) [With] Irma – who had lofty pillars (7) The likes of whom had never been created in the land?} (Al-Fajr: 6-8)

وَثَمُودَ الَّذِينَ جَابُوا الصَّخْرَ بِالْوَادِ

{And [with] Thamud, who carved out the rocks in the valley?} (Al-Fajr:9)

They dug rocks and built houses. A great scientific progress.

وَفِرْعَوْنَ ذِي الْأَوْتَادِ (10) الَّذِينَ طَغَوْا فِي الْبِلَادِ (11) فَأَكْثَرُوا فِيهَا الْفَسَادَ (12) فَصَبَّ عَلَيْهِمْ رَبُّكَ سَوْطَ عَذَابٍ (13) إِنَّ رَبَّكَ لَبِالْمِرْصَادِ

{And [with] Pharaoh, owner of the stakes? (10) [All of] whom oppressed within the lands (11) And increased therein the corruption. (12) So your Lord poured upon them a scourge of punishment. (13) Indeed, your Lord is in observation.} (Al-Fajr: 10-14)

Hence, do not be deceived with what you see, the (proceed) in this verse means to think, you can proceed by moving and see the effects, but when this word is used like this, then it means to wander with your thoughts and mind and realize the ends of everyone who rejects the verses and the signs that indicates His (swt) existence.

It is the laws of Allah (swt) in the universe that lead to the manifestations of civilization, in other words, the adoption of reasons, science, technology and morals, along with all divine commands lead to the exploration of what is in the earth. Allah (swt) wants us to be workers and knowledgeable in all worldly conditions in addition to legal and religious issues. It is not enough to be qualified in religious sciences in order to be considered educated, rather you must learn the worldly sciences that are prevailed in your time so that you are not considered ignorant. When we see the attack against Islam and the dangerous misleading of all Western and non-Western societies in the world about the religion of Islam by indicating it a religion of backwardness that deprived women’s rights, or as a religion which contains the seeds of violence, hatred against others. All these accuses have in fact reasons beside conspiracy against the Arab and Islamic nation, among these reasons is that people care about achievements and civilization and do not pay attention to religiosity, to clarify, a thousand years ago this nation has been described as:

خَيْرَ أُمَّةٍ أُخْرِجَتْ لِلنَّاسِ

{You are the best nation produced} (Ali-Imran: 110)

This nation was the one which export science, civilization, discipline, and all the foundations of a decent life, human rights, public freedoms, and the principles of democracy that they are talking about now, during a thousand years the Western world was living in darkness, without any knowledge, civilization, morals, progress or anything of importance, so the Islamic nation was the source of enlightenment to others. For example, the people of other countries used to send missions to Andalusia to learn medicine, chemistry, physics, astronomy, etc., and this nation gave a bright image about Islam, but when we stop behind, we gave a dark image of Islam; because we have abandoned the laws of Allah (swt) that He wanted, Allah (swt) says:

قُلْ سِيرُوا فِي الْأَرْضِ فَانظُرُوا كَيْفَ بَدَأَ الْخَلْقَ

{Say, [O Muhammad], “Travel through the land and observe how He began creation} (Al-Ankaboot: 20)

Why do others explore the space and reach the scientific sciences and scientific and medical theories, which we are required to do, but we do not do anything, hence when we see backwardness in one of the Islamic countries, the reason is not Islam, but rather it is the Muslims because Islam calls to gain knowledge:

وَقُل رَّبِّ زِدْنِي عِلْمًا

{and say, “My Lord, increase me in knowledge.”} (Taa-Haa: 114)

Verily, if you want to give the true image of Islam, you do not have just to apply the devotional teachings of Islam, but rather to achieve the essence of Islam, which is civilization, science, progress, rights and justice… But if justice, rights, values, morals, and scientific progress are absent, it is normal for people to think that the reason is the religion. When Muhammad Abdo went to London and other Western countries, he found the discipline and people who are bound by laws and regulations, he said: “I found Islam without Muslims, and when I returned to Egypt, I found Muslims without Islam.”. That is because he found civilization and found its people honest and organized, the obey the laws, study, work day and night for building their country, building their societies. This is what is meant by contemplating Allah’s laws in the universe. The talk about the universe occupies more than 75% of the Qur’an, but unfortunately, we just take from the Qur’an the teachings of purity, prayer, zakat, Hajj and Ramadan fasting. Although, these are devotional matters and we  must teach them to people, but the Holy Qur’an is not limited to them, for ablution was mentioned in just one verse that can be explained in few words, but there are thousands of verses related to the sun, the moon, the wind, the stars, physics and sciences which we pass by unnoticing. The whole Qur’an is almost about cosmic laws; that is because they are the results of the previous nations which adopt the reasons. But now, unfortunately, we have confined Islam to a very narrow range, that is the issue of worship. If we look at the biography of the Prophet (saws) and his Sunnah, which is his every word, deed, command, prohibition and approval, do we find that his life, since Gabriel (pbuh) descended with: “Recite” until he (saws) rose to the side of his Lord (dies), from the age of forty to sixty-three, that is twenty-three years, do we find that he spent his life just in fighting and teaching people ablution?! Of course not, the Prophet (saws) used to sit with his neighbors, so he taught the rights of the neighborhood, he was with his wives, so he taught the rights of women and how to deal with the husband, he was with his children or grandchildren, so he taught people how to act within the family, how to maintains the connections of ties of kinship, how to build society, how to establish civilization, how to apply justice, how to be moral, how to create values. Sadly, we left all of these and we limited Islam to what the terrorists, Westerners, Zionists and enemies of religion wanted?