Verses 1–14
Introduction
The aim of this chapter is to demonstrate the universality of God’s lordship of the universe against the claim of the idol-worshippers. The idol-worshippers maintained that every section of the universe has a lord from the angels and others while God is merely the lord of lords.
That is why, (in this chapter), God enumerates many of His blessings in creation and in (its) organization and management, which He does in the spirit of arguing and remonstrating in favor of His lordship. He inaugurates His speech with the mention of His blessedness (al-tabāruk), which refers to the abundant manifestation and flow of blessings from Him. He (then) repeats His description (in this chapter) by means of the attribute of al-raḥmān (the most Merciful), which word is a hyperbolic form of al-raḥmah (mercy). Al-raḥmah means ‘to grant in the face of the evocation of poverty’. This chapter (also) contains warnings, which (warnings) terminate with the mention of the day of the resurrection of mankind and their gathering (for reckoning and requital).
The contents of this chapter can be summarized as a call to the unity of (God’s) lordship, and resurrection. This chapter is of Meccan provenance on the basis of the testimony of the contents of its verses.
Commentary
تَبَارَكَ الَّذِي بِيَدِهِ الْمُلْكُ وَهُوَ عَلَىٰ كُلِّ شَيْءٍ قَدِيرٌ ١
(67:1) Blessed is He in Whose hand is the kingdom, and He has power over all things.
The blessedness of something (tabāruk al-shay) means an abundant emanation and issuance of goodness and blessings from it.
The statement … He in Whose hand is the kingdom... includes, by means of its absoluteness, every kingdom. This is while the description of the kingdom being in His hand is a figure of speech to denote His total and complete dominion and control over it and Him being able to deal with it and treat it as He wishes. This is similar to one who possesses something in his control. He deals with it and turns it as he wishes. Thus God owns, by Himself, everything, from all its perspectives, and He (also) owns what everything (else) owns.
Therefore, God’s description here as ... He in Whose hand is the kingdom... is more expansive than His description as ‘king’ in ...with a most Powerful King (), and it is more clear, explicit, and affirmative than His description in ...to Him belongs the kingdom... ().
The concluding statement ...and He has power over all things means His power is unlimited and never ending, which feature is a necessary and essential quality of the absoluteness of the kingdom, in light of the context. This is even if the absoluteness of the kingdom, which is from the attributes of the (divine) act (ṣifāt al-fi‘l), is from the requisites of the absoluteness of power, which is from the attributes of the (divine) essence (ṣifāt al-dhāt).
Nonetheless, this verse contains an indication of the proof of the possibility of what shall be mentioned subsequently (in this chapter) of the matter of resurrection.
الَّذِي خَلَقَ الْمَوْتَ وَالْحَيَاةَ لِيَبْلُوَكُمْ أَيُّكُمْ أَحْسَنُ عَمَلًا ۚ وَهُوَ الْعَزِيزُ الْغَفُورُ ٢
(67:2) Who created death and life that He may try you—which of you is best in deeds; and He is the Mighty, the Forgiving,
Life is the state of a thing whereat it senses and intends, while death is the absence of these things. However, death, from what comes across from the teachings of the Qur’an, is the transition from one mode of the modes of life to another mode as was understood from the following verses We have ordained death among you and We are not to be overcome, in order that We may bring in your place the likes of you and make you grow into what you know not (). Consequently, there is no problem in associating the act of creation to death as it is to life.
However, if death is taken in the meaning of absence as it is done in ordinary convention then it means the absence of the aptitude or faculty of life, and that has a share in existence. In such a case the association of creation to it is valid as it is to blindness from sight (where blindness is the absence of the aptitude or faculty of sight) and as it is to darkness from light (where darkness is the absence of the aptitude or faculty of light).
The statement, ...that He may try you—which of you is best in deeds... is the goal and purpose of God’s creation of death and life, and test and tribulation. Thus the meaning is ‘Your creation, in this manner, which is where you live and then die, is a creation that is brought forth and is test-based where the one from among you who is best in deeds, is distinguished by it from the others’. And it is known that test and distinction are not save for something that is to come to you subsequent to them, which is recompense of all on the basis of their deeds.
In addition, this verse contains an allusion that the actual aim of creation is to convey the goodness of recompense, whence it mentions good deeds and the distinction of whoever brings forth the best of it. Thus good doers are the ones intended by creation while those other than them are intended for them.
This verse is brought to a close with ...and He is the Mighty, the Forgiving. He is the Mighty (al-ᶜazīz) since absolute kingdom and power belong to Him alone. Consequently, no vanquisher overcomes Him. And neither has He made anyone capable of opposing Him save in the spirit of test and examination, and He shall take them to task (for opposing Him). Further, He is the Forgiving (al-ghafūr), for He pardons many of their evil deeds in this world and shall forgive many more in the hereafter, as He has promised.
This verse is brought to a close by two (divine) names (which are ‘the Mighty’ and ‘the Forgiving’). By that, the chapter both frightens and renders desirous (to the listeners) what the content of this chapter calls to.
Do know that the content of this verse is not simply a claim devoid of (incriminating) proof (which would render all excuses void), and that what was meant by it was simply an instruction such as may perhaps be imagined; rather this verse serves as an introduction which will soon be required (as the chapter progresses)—or it is a necessary introduction requiring the judgment in favor of the necessity of resurrection for the sake of recompense. This is because a person who is clad in this worldly life, which life is adjoined to death, is not devoid of achieving one of two qualities: either the quality of a good-doer or its contrary. This is while he is furnished, on the basis of his innate nature (al-fiṭrah), such that if it were not for the presentation of evil by an evil being, that furnishing (of his innate nature) would lead him to good deeds. Rarely is a human being devoid of acquiring one of these two qualities, (the exception being) such as children and those judged similar to them.
The quality obtainable and resulting from the existence of a thing, effective in the majority of its cases, is (considered) the goal and purpose of its life, and intended by its creation. Therefore, just as the plant life of a certain tree leads, in the majority of cases, to the production of fruits, which is considered the goal of its existence, and intended from it, so similarly, good deeds and virtuousness are goals of the creation of mankind. It is also known that virtuousness and good deeds, if demanded and desired, are demanded and desired for other than themselves, and not for themselves. The actual desired thing is the pure (paradisiacal) life uncontaminated with defects where futility and sin do not present themselves to it. Thus this verse is in the meaning of Every soul must taste of death and We try you by evil and good by way of probation; and to Us you shall be brought back ().
الَّذِي خَلَقَ سَبْعَ سَمَاوَاتٍ طِبَاقًا ۖ مَا تَرَىٰ فِي خَلْقِ الرَّحْمَٰنِ مِنْ تَفَاوُتٍ ۖ فَارْجِعِ الْبَصَرَ هَلْ تَرَىٰ مِنْ فُطُورٍ ٣
(67:3) Who created the seven heavens one above another; you see no incongruity in the creation of the Most Merciful; then look again, can you see any disorder?
It means: “(He created the seven heavens) congruous, in conformity, correspondent, identical (muṭābaqah), one (heaven) over the other, or one of them resembling the other,” as it is held. Some of what we may say of this verse has already been mentioned previously in the commentary of Sūrah Ḥā Mīm Sajdah (Ch. 41).
Regarding ... you see no incongruity (al-tafāwut) in the creation of the Most Merciful Al-Rāghib writes: “the word al-fawt (which has the same root letters as the word al-tafāwut, which are f-w-t) means ‘the distance of a thing from a person such that its attainment is difficult or unfeasible.’” He writes: “God says And if anything (out of the dowries of your wives) has passed away from you (fātakum) to the unbelievers.... (). This is while the word al-tafāwut means ‘the difference in characteristics or qualities as if the characteristic or quality of one of two things is lost to the other or the characteristic or quality of each one of two things is lost to the other” (hence them being different or incongruous). God says ... you see no incongruity (tafāwut) in the creation of the Most Merciful meaning that there isn’t in it what deviates from the requirement of wisdom’.
Hence the meaning of the negation of incongruity (in creation) is the connectivity in the organization and management (of creation), and the connectivity of things with each other in terms of goals and benefits that result from the interaction of one with the other. This is while the (apparent) friction, discordance or conflict of different causes in creation is like the wrangling of the scale pans of a weighing scale and their conflict (with each other) in terms of heaviness and lightness and rising and declining. Nevertheless, the scale pans in fact differ with each other in order to aid the one in whose control the weighing scale lies in what he wants of finding out the weight of the commodities being weighed.
So God has arranged the different parts of creation in such a way that they bring about their aims and purposes without one of them causing the other to miss its goal or purpose, or without the necessary quality of one thing, which is necessary for it to obtain its required goal and purpose, being lost.
The expression ... you see no… is a general address made to whosoever is able to see, while attaching the word khalq (creation) to the word al-raḥmān (the most Merciful) (khalq al-raḥmān) in this verse, in the form of a possessive construct (meaning: something of something) as follows … in the creation of the Most Merciful indicates that the goal and aim of creation is generic mercy. This is while rendering the word tafāwut grammatically indefinite when it is in the context of negation, and the insertion of the word al-raḥmān to it, is in order to denote generality.
… then look again, can you see any disorder? The word al-fuṭūr that occurs in it means ‘disorder, deficiency, imperfection (al-ikhtilāl), weakness, feebleness, and insignificance (al-wahyu)’. The meaning of ‘looking again’ is to look a second time, which is a figure of speech denoting scrupulousness and minuteness in sight, and assiduity in it.
ثُمَّ ارْجِعِ الْبَصَرَ كَرَّتَيْنِ يَنْقَلِبْ إِلَيْكَ الْبَصَرُ خَاسِئًا وَهُوَ حَسِيرٌ ٤
(67:4) Then turn back the eye again and again; your look shall come back to you dulled while it is fatigued.
The word al-khāsi’ when applied to sight means ‘sight that is constricted, depressed, dejected and rendered downcast due to humiliation and disgrace’ as explained by al-Rāghib. He also said ‘the word al-ḥāsir means “something that is exhausted, incapacitated, powerless, and fatigued due to the exhaustion of its strength and power.” This can be imagined to occur in an active (ḥāsir) and passive sense (maḥsūr). As for the active sense, this can be imagined when a thing has itself exhausted its strength and power, thereby rendering itself tired. It can also be imagined in the passive sense which is when fatigue and weariness exhaust the thing. The speech of God here …. your look shall come back to you dulled (khāsi’an) while it is fatigued (ḥāsir) can validly be understood in both senses, active and passive.’
The word karratayni is a word in the dual form. Its singular is karrah. The latter means ‘returning’. The dual form (karratayni) means ‘excessiveness, increase and repetition’. Thus the meaning obtained is ‘then return your gaze repeatedly, that is, many times. Your sight will (only) return to you diminished, depressed, disgraced, and constricted while its state will be such that it will be fatigued and exhausted, unable to find any imperfection or triviality’.
In these two verses, it is pointed out that the system in place in the universe is a united, singular system where its different parts are connected with and bound to each other.
وَلَقَدْ زَيَّنَّا السَّمَاءَ الدُّنْيَا بِمَصَابِيحَ وَجَعَلْنَاهَا رُجُومًا لِلشَّيَاطِينِ ۖ وَأَعْتَدْنَا لَهُمْ عَذَابَ السَّعِيرِ ٥
(67:5) And certainly We have adorned the lower heaven with lamps and We have made these missiles for the Shaitans, and We have prepared for them the chastisement of burning.
The word al-maṣābīḥ is the plural of al-miṣbāḥ. It means a lamp. Stars (al-kawākib) are called lamps due to their luminosity and brightness. An explanation about that has been made in the commentary of Sūrah Ḥā Mīm Sajdah.
The statement …and We have made these missiles for the Shaitans… means that We have made the stars (al-kawākib), with which We have adorned the sky, missiles (rujūm). Whosoever from the satans eavesdrops in order to hear, is consequently pelted with them, as God says But he who steals a hearing, so there follows him a visible flame (). And Except him who snatches off but once, then there follows him a brightly shining flame ().
It is said that this verse is proof that what is meant by stars (al-kawākib), with which the sky is adorned, is the sum total of the original stars (al-kawākib al-aṣliyyah) and the shooting stars (al-shuhub al-samāwiyyah). This is because the original stars do not move from their location or abode. The words al-kawākib and al-najm are applied to shooting stars as they are applied to the original celestial bodies.
It is said that the shooting stars split from the (original) stars and serve as missiles for the satans. As for the (original) stars themselves, they do not move away except when God wishes their destruction. This perspective is most in line with contemporary scientific views. This is while some discussion regarding the meaning of ‘shooting the satans by means of shooting stars’ has already occurred previously.
The concluding statement …and We have prepared for them the chastisement of burning means: “We have prepared for the satans, and they are the wicked ones from the jinn, the punishment of the blazing fire.”
وَلِلَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا بِرَبِّهِمْ عَذَابُ جَهَنَّمَ ۖ وَبِئْسَ الْمَصِيرُ ٦
(67:6) And for those who disbelieve in their Lord is the punishment of hell, and evil is the resort.
When God has mentioned some signs of His lordship in (the previous verses of) this chapter, then in this verse, He follows them up with a threat (from Himself) for whoever disbelieves in His lordship. This is on the basis of the style of this chapter where it integrates proofs, threats, and warnings.
The ambit of the referents of ‘those who disbelieve in His lordship’ is wider than the polytheists who negate His (universal) lordship in favor of their deities, claiming that God is merely the Lord of lords. It is wider than those who reject His lordship absolutely, and more general than those who acknowledge and confirm His lordship but differentiate between Him and His messengers such as the Jews and the Christians who believe in some messengers and deny others; (rather the reference is to all of them).
Nonetheless, this verse is connected to , which reads Who created death and life that He may try you—which of you is best in deeds; and He is the Mighty, the Forgiving . This is due to what this verse contains of an indication for resurrection and recompense, connected to what is before it, like a generality after a specification.
إِذَا أُلْقُوا فِيهَا سَمِعُوا لَهَا شَهِيقًا وَهِيَ تَفُورُ ٧
(67:7) When they shall be cast therein, they shall hear a loud moaning of it as it boils, almost bursting for fury.
Al-Rāghib defines the word al-shahīq, which occurs in this verse, as ‘prolonged or lengthened zafīr where al-zafīr is the returning or sending back of the breath (into the chest) while/and al-zafīr is its prolongation’ (and so therefore al-shahīq would mean prolonged or lengthened inhalation; lengthened drawing back or sending back of breath (into the chest)).’ This is while the word al-fawarān, as it is defined in the Qurᵓān commentary Majma’ al-bayān, means ‘an increase in boiling’. The word al-tamayyuz means ‘breaking, bursting, fragmenting’, and the word al-ghayẓ means ‘heightened anger and rage’. Thus the meaning of this verse is: “when the disbelievers will be thrown into hell-fire, they shall hear from it a shahīq (prolonged inhalation), which means it shall draw them into its interior just as air is drawn into the chest by means of shahīq (prolonged inhalation), while it will be boiling and seething with them, and so it will raise them up and let them drop, nearly fragmenting and bursting due to heightened anger and rage!”
تَكَادُ تَمَيَّزُ مِنَ الْغَيْظِ ۖ كُلَّمَا أُلْقِيَ فِيهَا فَوْجٌ سَأَلَهُمْ خَزَنَتُهَا أَلَمْ يَأْتِكُمْ نَذِيرٌ ٨
(67:8) Whenever a group is cast into it, its keeper shall ask them: Did there not come to you a warner?
The word al-fawj that occurs in this verse, as defined by al-Rāghib, refers to ‘a group passing by in a hurry, rushing ahead’. The part of this verse that says Whenever a group is cast into it… means that the disbelievers shall be cast into hell-fire in groups, which the following verse (also) indicates (in corroboration) And those who disbelieve shall be driven to hell in companies…(). They shall be cast thus so that the followers may join the ones (they) followed in deviation, as the following verse says …and put the impure, some of it upon the other, and pile it up together, then cast it into hell... (). Some clarification for this phenomenon has occurred in the context of the thirty seventh verse of Sūrah al-Anfāl.
The word al-khazanah that occurs in this verse is the plural of al-khāzin. It refers to the custodian or keeper or guardian of something accumulated or stored and saved. Those meant by the plural al-khazanah are the angels in charge of hell-fire, who administer (different) types of its punishments. God says O you who believe! Save yourselves and your families from a fire whose fuel is men and stones; over it are angels stern and strong (). And God says I will cast him into hell… () till it says Over it are nineteen. And We have not made the wardens of the fire others than angels… ().
Hence, the meaning obtained is: “Every time a group from the groups of the disbelievers is thrown into hell-fire, being driven to it, the angels in charge of hell-fire, guarding it, shall ask them in censure ‘did not a warner come to you?’” This being a reference to the warner-prophet.
قَالُوا بَلَىٰ قَدْ جَاءَنَا نَذِيرٌ فَكَذَّبْنَا وَقُلْنَا مَا نَزَّلَ اللَّهُ مِنْ شَيْءٍ إِنْ أَنْتُمْ إِلَّا فِي ضَلَالٍ كَبِيرٍ ٩
(67:9) They shall say: Yea! Indeed there came to us a warner, but we rejected (him) and said: Allah has not revealed anything, you are only in a great error.
This verse relates to the disbelievers’ answer to the question posed to them by the keepers of hell-fire. Their answer (in this verse) serves as confirmation and confession (on their part) that a warner did come to them but that they belied him. The part of this verse that reads …Allah has not revealed anything… illustrates their denial, and similarly so for the end part of this verse, which says … you are only in a great error.
The suggestion is made that the end part of this verse … you are only in a great error is the speech of the angels with which they respond to the disbelievers after the latter had replied to their question with what they replied. However, this interpretation is contextually remote. Similarly contextually remote is the suggestion that it is the speech of those messengers whom the disbelievers had belied, which speech the angels were relating to the disbelievers (being cast into hell-fire).
وَقَالُوا لَوْ كُنَّا نَسْمَعُ أَوْ نَعْقِلُ مَا كُنَّا فِي أَصْحَابِ السَّعِيرِ ١٠
(67:10) And they shall say: Had we but listened or pondered, we would not have been among the inmates of the burning fire.
The word ‘to listen/to hear’ (al-samu‘) means the perception of sound or speech by means of the (relevant) bodily organ. And perhaps what is (actually) meant by it (that is, by the act of listening/hearing (al-samu‘), which is the perception of sound or speech by the relevant bodily organ) is the aim and purpose of it in the opinion of rational creatures. This is to abide by or to comply with what it (that is, the speech heard) necessitates or requires in terms of actualizing it (that is, its contents) or relinquishing the same.
This is while the word al-aql (‘the intellect’ or ‘pondering’ in the context of this verse) is applied to distinguishing the good from the bad, and the beneficial from the harmful. And perhaps what is (actually) meant by it (that is, by the intellect/pondering (al-aql), which is the distinction of good from bad and the beneficial from the harmful) is its aim and purpose, which is to abide by or to comply with what it necessitates of seeking good and the beneficial, and refraining from what is bad and harmful. God says …they have hearts with which they do not understand, and they have eyes with which they do not see, and they have ears with which they do not hear; they are as cattle, nay, they are in worse errors; these are the heedless ones ().
More often than not, it is the general public that benefits from (the faculty of) hearing/listening (al-samu‘). This is due to their failure to intellectually apprehend the minuteness and depth of matters, understand their realities, and be guided to their benefits and evil. It is only the elite that benefit from the intellect (al-aql).
Therefore, the clause …Had we but listened or pondered... has the meaning of ‘listened’ to be the (positive) response to the call of the messengers and to abide by or comply with what their speech entailed. This is because they (that is, the messengers) were trustworthy advisers and admonishers. And what is meant by ‘pondered’ is to abide by or comply with the demands of what they (that is, the messengers) called to, of the truth, with care and consideration and rational thought, in that it is true and it is obligatory that the human being submits to the truth.
This is while the reason ‘listening’ precedes ‘pondering’ (in this verse) is because the use of the former faculty is from the traits of the general public who are in the majority, while the use of the intellect is from the traits of the elite who are unique and few.
Hence, the meaning of this verse is: “had we, while in the world, but obeyed and heeded the messengers in what they advised and admonished or had we but pondered and given thought to the proof of the truth, we would not have been, today, from the inhabitants of the fire.” Thus they would be the companions and fellows of hell-fire, staying therein forever.
It is suggested that the verse combines ‘listening’ and ‘pondering’ because the basis of moral responsibility rests on the evidences obtained from listening and pondering.
فَاعْتَرَفُوا بِذَنْبِهِمْ فَسُحْقًا لِأَصْحَابِ السَّعِيرِ ١١
(67:11) So they shall acknowledge their sin, but far will be (forgiveness) from the inmates of the burning fire.
The disbelievers had said …Had we but listened or pondered, we would not have been among the inmates of the burning fire. They said this in regret and remorse for what they had neglected of what was due on them from God’s side, and they said this in regret and remorse for what they had caused themselves to miss of goodness. Thus (in this verse) they are (described as) admitting that what they had brought forth (of deeds) was such that its consequence was entrance into hell-fire while it was incumbent on them that they should not have brought forth such a thing. Thus this was the sin (dhanb), and they had acknowledged their sin.
This is while the word dhanb (sin) has been rendered singular in this verse (where the plural would have been dhunūb) on the basis that it is the meaning of the verbal noun (al-maṣdar) that is meant from it (here), and it is (indeed) originally a verbal noun. The end part of this verse says …but far will be (forgiveness) from the inmates of the burning fire. The word al-suḥq means ‘the crumbling or fragmentation of something’, as defined by al-Rāghib, and it serves as an imprecation against them.
إِنَّ الَّذِينَ يَخْشَوْنَ رَبَّهُمْ بِالْغَيْبِ لَهُمْ مَغْفِرَةٌ وَأَجْرٌ كَبِيرٌ ١٢
(67:12) (As for) those who fear their Lord unseen, they shall surely have forgiveness and a great reward.
When God has mentioned the state of the disbelievers and what they shall be requited with due to their disbelief (in the previous verse), He then in this verse contrasts that with the state of the believers in the unseen in order to complete the (bipartite) division. And He has mentioned ‘fear’ to be from their quality because the context is that of warning and threat.
Further, He has reckoned their fear to be a fear of the unseen because what they believed in is veiled from them beneath veils of the unseen.
وَأَسِرُّوا قَوْلَكُمْ أَوِ اجْهَرُوا بِهِ ۖ إِنَّهُ عَلِيمٌ بِذَاتِ الصُّدُورِ ١٣
(67:13) And conceal your word or manifest it; surely He is Cognizant of what is in the hearts.
This verse aims to remove a doubt that may engage the hearts of the disbelievers; a doubt based on a disqualification. This (disqualification) is that God has carried on a conversation (up until this point in the chapter) in demonstrating His lordship of everything, which lordship entails resurrection and recompense. (Furthermore), He mentioned His absolute kingdom and power, and He mentioned His creation and His governance (of it). However, He did not mention His knowledge which encompasses them (the disbelievers), their states, and deeds! This is while the significance of knowledge is such that resurrection and recompense would not be accomplished without it.
It is possible they imagined that (human) deeds, due to their large number, are beyond enumeration, and that their accurate reckoning is unfeasible, especially what the hearts hide of deeds. Such imagination is because the human being tends to measure and gauge things based on himself and weighs them according to his abilities, and he is incapable of measuring or reckoning the particulars of human deeds, which consist of different, completed movements, especially the deeds of the heart, which are hidden in their different aspects.
Consequently, this verse rebuts such a conjecture in that the manifestation of speech and its concealment are alike for God. This is because …surely He is Cognizant of what is in the hearts. The context testifies that the intent is to convey that the concealment of deeds and their manifestation is alike for God, and that He has mentioned the concealment of speech and its manifestation from the perspective of the manifestation of the meaning of concealment and manifestation of it by manifestation and concealment.
أَلَا يَعْلَمُ مَنْ خَلَقَ وَهُوَ اللَّطِيفُ الْخَبِيرُ ١٤
(67:14) Does He, Who Created, not know while He is the Knower of the subtleties, the Aware?
The interrogative in this verse is in a rhetorical style which aims to convey disapproval and rebuke (by the speaker) coupled with surprise (on the speaker’s part in respect of a deed by the addressee, which is not befitting him/her (which in this case refers to the conjecture of the disbelievers that the large number of human deeds would be beyond God’s enumeration and accurate reckoning)). Such a rhetorical interrogative is known as al-istif’hām al-inkāriy. This rhetorical interrogative is taken as proof of God’s knowledge of the deeds of His creation, the apparent thereof and the hidden, the secretive thereof and the manifest.
The deeds of creation include the deeds of human beings done with their free choice and volition. These are attributed to their doers, yet it is God who intends and creates them via the free choice of the human being and via the requirements of all the rest of the (relevant) causes and factors. Thus He is the Creator of the substances/realities of things, and the One who determines and measures the effects of things, however they may be. He is the connective between things and their effects, and the One who conveys the things to their effects.
God says Allah is the Creator of everything and He has charge over everything (). And He says Who creates, then makes complete, and Who makes (things) according to a measure, then guides (them to their goal) (). Therefore, God encompasses and is aware of the substance/reality of His creation and its effects, and from the effects of His creation are their apparent and hidden deeds, and what they hide and make manifest. Hence, how can God encompass and be aware of something but not know it?!
This verse contains an indication that the states of things and their deeds are not beyond their creation. This is because God has sought to prove by means of His knowledge of who He has created, that He has knowledge of the particularities of their states and deeds. Had it not been that the states and deeds (of subjects) were part of the existence of their subjects, such proving would be incomplete. However, the states and deeds are from the necessities of their subjects, and the one to whom the existence of a thing is attributed has the effects of its existence attributed to him too.
…while He is the Knower of the subtleties, the Aware: It means God has penetrating knowledge of the inner of things. He is well acquainted with the particulars of the existence of things and their effects. This part of the verse is a statement that expresses the state (jumlah ḥāliyyah) for what is before it, explaining it with justification, while the two names of God (mentioned in this verse) are from His beautiful names with which the verse concludes in order to reiterate its contents.
Examining Narrations
- Imām al-Ṣādiq said the following with respect to the speech of God …that He may try you—which of you is best in deeds…(): ‘It does not mean “the most abundant of you (all) in deeds” rather it means “the most correct or proper of you (all) in deeds.” Surely “correctness” is the fear and awe of God, and genuine, sincere, and good intention.’ Thereafter the Imām said: ‘to keep to an act till it is rendered sincere (for God) is more difficult than the act (itself). Hearken! The pure, sincere act is one where you do not want anyone to praise you for it save God, while the intention is superior to the act. Hearken! Indeed, the intention is the act (itself)!’ Then he recited the following verse Say: Every one acts according to his manner (shākilatih)… () and said: ‘it means “according to his intention.”’
- Abu Qatādah relates: ‘I asked the Prophet about the speech of God, which says …which of you is best in deeds… (). I said: ‘what did He mean by it?’ The Prophet replied: ‘He means which of you is best in intellect/reasoning (ᶜaqlan)’. Then he said: ‘(He means which of you is) the most complete in intellect/reasoning (ᶜaqlan), the most fearful (of God) for God’s sake, the most observant and careful regarding what God has commanded and forbidden. This is even if he was the least among you in doing voluntary good deeds’.’
- The Prophet recited the speech of God Blessed is He in Whose hand is the kingdom, and He has power over all things (). Who created death and life that He may try you—which of you is best in deeds…() then he said: ‘(it means) which of you is best in intellect/reasoning (ᶜaqlan), the most God-fearing in respect of God’s prohibitions, and the swiftest to God’s obedience’.
- Tafsīr al-Qummī explains the verse Who created the seven heavens one above another… () as follows: ‘one of them (congruently fitting) on top of the other’. And it explains the verse …you see no incongruity (min tafāwut) in the creation of the Most Merciful… () as follows: ‘(you see) no corruption (in the creation)’. And it explains the verse Then turn back the eye… () to mean: ‘look at the dominion/kingdom of the heavens and the earth’. And it explains the verse …with lamps… () to mean: ‘with stars’. And it explains the verse …they shall hear a loud moaning… () to mean: ‘occurrence/happening’. And it explains the verse … almost bursting for fury… () to mean: ‘(almost bursting with fury) on the enemies of God’. And it explains the verse And they shall say: Had we but listened or pondered, we would not have been among the inmates of the burning fire () as follows: ‘They heard and understood but did not obey and did not accept. The proof that they heard and understood but did not accept, is the speech of God (that follows) So they shall acknowledge their sin, but far will be (forgiveness) from the inmates of the burning fire ().’
Author’s comment: the Imām means that the verse proves that the meaning of not listening and not pondering (in ) is (actually) the lack of obedience and acceptance after listening and pondering. That is why God has named that speech of theirs (that is, ) as acknowledgement of sin (in ). An act is not considered a sin from its doer save after knowledge of the aspect of its evilness by means of hearing or pondering.