لِتَسْتَوُوا عَلَىٰ ظُهُورِهِ ثُمَّ تَذْكُرُوا نِعْمَةَ رَبِّكُمْ إِذَا اسْتَوَيْتُمْ عَلَيْهِ وَتَقُولُوا سُبْحَانَ الَّذِي سَخَّرَ لَنَا هَٰذَا وَمَا كُنَّا لَهُ مُقْرِنِينَ (13)
(43:13) so that when you are mounted upon them you may remember the bounty of your Lord, and say: 'Glory be to Him Who has subjected this to Us whereas we did not have the strength to subdue it. *13
*13) That is, "Only man from among all the creatures of the earth was not given this power by Allah to use boats and ships and animals as conveyance so that he may be loaded on them like bags of grain and should never think as to who it is who created possibilities for him to run boats in the mighty oceans, and who created some animals of the countless kinds of animals, with a nature that they become his servants in spite of being far stronger than him in power, and he rides on them and drives them wherever he likes. To benefit by these blessings and to forget the Benefactor is a sign of the heart's becoming dead and the conscience's being insensitive. For when a man endowed with a living heart and a sensitive conscience will sit on these conveyances, he will be filled with the feelings of the blessings and with the gratitude for it, and will cry out: "Glorified is the Being Who subjected these things to me: Glorified is He from that another should be His associate in His Being and attributes and powers: Glorified is He and free from the weakness that He should become helpless of performing the functions of His Godhead by Himself and should stand in need of other associate gods: Glorified is He that I should make another an associate with Him in rendering thanks for these blessings."
The best practical commentary of the intention and meaning of this verse are the words that the Holy Prophet (upon whom be Allah's peace) used to pronounce at the time he sat on the conveyance. Hadrat 'Abdullah bin 'Umar says that whenever the Holy Prophet sat on a conveyance for a journey, he would pronounce Allah-u Akbar thrice, then would recite this verse, and then pray: "O God, I implore You to grant me in this journey the grace of goodness and piety and such acts as may please You. O God, make the journey easy and roll up the long distance for us; O God, You alone are the Companion during the journey and Guardian of the family in ow absence. O God, take care of us during, the journey and our household in ow absence. " (Musnad Ahmed, Muslim, Abu Da'ud, Nasa'i, Darimi, Tirmidhi).
Hadrat 'Ali says: Once the Holy Prophet put his foot in the stirrup with bismillah, and then, after riding, said: Al-,hamd-u lillah, subhan-alladhi sakhkhara lana hadha . . . . , then pronounced al-,hamd-u-lillah thrice, and Allah-u Akbar thrice; then said: Subhana-ka, la-ilaha ills anta, qad zalamtu nafsi fagh fir-li. Then he laughed. I asked: What made you laugh. O Messenger of Allah? He replied: When a servant says: Rabb-ighfir-li, Allah Almighty is very pleased with this. He says: My servant knows that there is none beside Me who can forgive sins." (Ahmed, Abu Da'ud, Tirmidhi, Nasa'i, and others)
Abu Mijlaz says: "Once I rode on my animal and recited this verse: Subhan-alladhi sakhkhara lane hadha . . . ; Hadrat Hasan (may Allah be pleased with him) said: Have you been commanded to say so ? I said: What should I say then? He replied: Say, thank God, Who guided us to Islam: Thanks to Him, Whodid us a favour by sending Muhammad (upon whom be Allah's peace): Thanks to Him, Who admitted us into the best community that has been raised for the people; then recite this verse." (Ibn Jarir, Ahkam al-Qur'an by Jassas)