"Know that the life of this world is but play and diversion," meaning: the people of this world are people of play and diversion, namely: the disbelievers. "Like the example of rain," the rain, "its growth pleases the disbelievers," meaning: what the earth brings forth from that rain. "Then it dries up," that vegetation, "and you see it yellow, then it becomes debris," like His saying: "husked out, which the winds scatter."

Muhammad said: Yahya did not explain the meaning of "al-kuffar" (the disbelievers), and I saw in a book other than his that they are the farmers. The farmer is called a "kafir" because when he casts the seed into the earth, he "kafara" it, meaning he covers it. It is also said: It may potentially mean the disbelievers in Allah, and they are more impressed by the adornment of this world than the believers are, and Allah knows best what He intended.

And His saying: "Then it dries up, and you see it yellow," means: it begins to wither, so the yellowness starts in it.