Fatir 35:28
Read together with the preceding verse (35:27), the verse completes a list: fruits, mountains, people, beasts, cattle.
وَمِنَ ٱلنَّاسِ وَٱلدَّوَآبِّ وَٱلْأَنْعَـٰمِ مُخْتَلِفٌ أَلْوَٰنُهُۥ كَذَٰلِكَ ۗ إِنَّمَا يَخْشَى ٱللَّهَ مِنْ عِبَادِهِ ٱلْعُلَمَـٰٓؤُا۟ ۗ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ عَزِيزٌ غَفُورٌ
Likewise, human beings, animals, and livestock come in various colors. From among His servants, the learned fear God. God is Almighty, Oft-Forgiving
Fatir 35:28 · Translation: talal-itani
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They all share a single attribute: "mukhtalifun alwānuh" — of varied colours. The striking turn of the verse comes after this list of observation: "innamā yakhshā'llāha min ʿibādihi'l-ʿulamāʾ" — of His servants, only the knowing fear Him. The verse does not leave the catalogue of variety as a scientific inventory; it says that to look upon this multiplicity with a learned eye is to turn into awe. Record-keeping or awe — the verse suggests that the two lie on the same road.
Observation
Biological colour diversity originates from the genetically controlled distribution of pigments in the melanin and carotenoid groups. Differences in human skin tone are linked to gene variants associated with adaptation to sunlight (UV), and colour diversity in animals is linked to selection pressures such as camouflage and mate choice. The emergence of such breadth of diversity from the same small family of pigments is a well-documented phenomenon in biology.
Exegesis
Classical exegetes note that the remarkable feature of the verse is the mention of "ʿulamāʾ" in the middle of a passage on natural variety. Al-Rāzī holds that the word refers not only to scholars of religious learning but to a kind of eye — one that "looks at the signs and actually sees them." Al-Qurṭubī draws attention to the order of the wording: first multiplicity, then awe. The verse describes a mode of knowing — not one that counts, lists, or catalogues, but one that can look into what it sees. A gaze of this kind perceives, behind the multiplicity, a single unity.
Sources
Tafsīr: Fakhr al-Dīn al-Rāzī, Mafātīḥ al-Ghayb; al-Qurṭubī, al-Jāmiʿ li-Aḥkām al-Qur'ān. Note: Fāṭir 35:27 (the white, red and black streaks in the mountains) is used under Theme 5 · Mountains; this card focuses on 35:28 and touches on 35:27 only as context.