﴿ هُوَ ٱلَّذِى يُرِيكُمُ ٱلْبَرْقَ خَوْفًۭا وَطَمَعًۭا وَيُنشِئُ ٱلسَّحَابَ ٱلثِّقَالَ ﴾

“HE IT IS who displays before you the lightning, to give rise to [both] fear and hope, and calls heavy clouds into being;”

It is He that shows you the lightning [inspiring] fear and hope�He [Sahl] said:The following saying is related from Ibn ʿAbbās y: �Thunder is an angel and it is his voice that you hear. As for the lightning, it is a whip of light by which the angel drives the clouds.� Mujāhid also said this. It is reported that ʿAlī b. Abī Ṭālib said: �Lightning is that with which the angels drive [the clouds] (makhārīq), and thunder is the voice of an angel.� Qatāda said: �Thunder is the sound of the clouds.�His words, Exalted is He: