Appearance
Verses 12–18
These verses argue against the polytheists regarding Unity of God (al-tawḥīd) and Resurrection (al-maʾād); the first two verses contain proof of resurrection, and the remaining five discuss the issue of al-tawḥīd based on two types of arguments as will be explained shortly.
قُلْ لِمَنْ مَا فِي السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ ۖ قُلْ لِلَّهِ ۚ كَتَبَ عَلَىٰ نَفْسِهِ الرَّحْمَةَ ۚ لَيَجْمَعَنَّكُمْ إِلَىٰ يَوْمِ الْقِيَامَةِ لَا رَيْبَ فِيهِ ۚ الَّذِينَ خَسِرُوا أَنْفُسَهُمْ فَهُمْ لَا يُؤْمِنُونَ ١٢
(6:12) Say: “To whom belongs what is in the heavens and the earth?” Say: “To Allah; He has ordained mercy on Himself; most certainly He will gather you on the Day of Resurrection—there is no doubt about it. (As for) those who have lost their souls, they will not believe.”
Thus begins the proof of resurrection. It says in short that certainly God is the Owner of all that is in the heavens and in the earth; He has the authority to manage it in any way He wishes and wills. He is characterized with the attribute of mercy, and it means fulfilling the need of every needy and conveying every thing to what it deserves and bestowing it on him; and many of His servants including human beings are qualified for an eternal life, and deserve to get happiness in it; so He, according to His ownership and mercy, will soon manage their affairs by resurrecting them and bestowing on them what they truly deserve.
So, His Word, the Sublime: “To whom belongs what is in the heavens and the earth?” contains one premise of the proof; and the phrase: He has ordained mercy on Himself, contains another premise, and the phrase: And to Him belongs whatever dwells in the night and day, is the third premise forming a part of the proof.
And His Word, the Sublime: “Say: ‘To whom belongs what is in the heavens and the earth?’…”, direct the Holy Prophet to ask them about him who owns the heavens and the earth, and who manages them as he wishes and no one can oppose him; and that is none but God without doubt, because all others, even the idols and the lords of idols (whom polytheists call (for help)) are like all other creatures, their creation and affairs (by hand of their builders eventually) end at God, and so He is the Owner of all that is in the heavens and the earth.
And since the subject of the question was clearly known to the questioner and the questioned both, and the opponents acknowledge that reality, so there was no need for a reply or verbal confession from the opposite party. Therefore, God directed the Holy Prophet to mention the reply which constitutes the completion of the proof without waiting for their reply.
Putting forth a question to the opponent and then also answering it are among the subtle styles which are used in argumentations. A benefactor admonishes the ungrateful beneficiary by asking: “Who fed you, gave you water and clothed you?” And then he himself answers: “It was I who did all this and was gracious to you, and yet you repay me with ingratitude?”
In short, this question and answer has affirmed that God is the absolute owner; He may manage the creatures in any way He wishes: by giving them life and sustenance, giving death and resurrecting; nothing can prevent Him from it, like the complexity of task, death, absence or disturbance, etc. With this, one premise of the proof is completed. And then another premise is attached to it: He has ordained mercy on Himself.
“He has ordained mercy on Himself…”: al-Kitābah (literally writing); here it means affirmation and a firm decree.
Since mercy—that is bestowal of blessing on one who deserves it, and conveying a thing to its due blessing and happiness—is among the Divine Attributes of action, it is appropriate to ascribe it to His affirmation. The meaning will be as follows: He has affirmed for Himself the mercy, bestowal of blessings and sending down the good to one who deserves it. There are other divine verses wherein writing has been described as an action of affirming: Allah has written down: I will most certainly prevail, I and My messengers (). And by the Lord of the heavens and the earth! It is most surely the truth… ().
And as for the divine attributes of person, like life, knowledge and power, their attribution to affirmation is not correct at all (since those attributes were never separate from His person); and therefore it is not said: He has affirmed for himself life, knowledge and power.
The necessary consequence of His affirming mercy upon Himself as explained earlier—is that He should complete His blessings on them by gathering them on the Day of Resurrection in order that He should recompense them for their words and deeds, and so that the believers should succeed and the others should suffer loss.
That is why He has added at the end—as the conclusion of the proof—most certainly He will gather you on the Day of Resurrection there is no doubt about it. Look how He has emphasized the theme by using lām of oath and nūn of emphasis (in la-yajmaʾanna, most certainly He will gather”), and the ending phrase: “there is no doubt about it.” Then He pointed out that the profit on that day was reserved for the believers and the loss for the non-believers; and so He said: “(As for) those who have lost their souls, they will not believe.”
The proof offered in this verse for resurrection is quite separate from the two proofs offered in the following verses: And We did not create the heaven and the earth and what is between them in vain; that is the opinion of those who disbelieve; then woe to those who disbelieve on account of the fire. Shall we treat those who believe and do good like the mischief-makers in the earth? Or shall We make those who are pious like the wicked? (). These two verses present proofs of resurrection from the angle that the divine actions are not in vain; on the contrary, they have some purpose behind them; and from the angle that considering the believer and the unbeliever, and the pious and the impious as equals would be an injustice not worthy of the divine status. And since these two groups are not distinguishable in this world, there is need of another life in which the two sides are made distinct from one another through blessings and unhappiness. This line of argument is other than the one used in the present verse which leads to the conclusion through the path of mercy.
وَلَهُ مَا سَكَنَ فِي اللَّيْلِ وَالنَّهَارِ ۚ وَهُوَ السَّمِيعُ الْعَلِيمُ ١٣
(6:13) And to Him belongs whatever dwells in the night and the day; and He is the Hearing, the Knowing.
Dwelling in the night and the day denotes being in the condition of this natural world whose affairs are managed in the night and the day; and its system is run by coverage of light reflected from the brilliant sun, and the light’s transmutation through proximity and distance, power and weakness, presence and absence and direction, etc.
So, the night and the day are the general environment in which main elements and their by-products are brought up based on a system in which every part and each entity is led to its final destination determined for it, and completes it in spirit and body.
As the living space, in general and in particular, has full effect on the life of the living being, for example a human being, who lives in a land, moves around in search of sustenance, and obtains his sustenance from what grows from it like grains and fruits, and what is raised in it like the animals, and drinks from its water, breathes its air, and he influences the conditions of its regions and is affected by them, and all parts of his body grow according to its measures—similarly, the night and the day have full impact in creation of what is created in them.
Man, among the things living in the night and the day, has been shaped by the divine will from compounding the elementary and composite parts in a particular shape whose existence is distinguished, in its creation as well as its survival, by a life based on a thoughtful cognizance and a will. These two factors prepare for him his inner emotional powers which compel him to attract the beneficial things and avert the harmful ones; and invite him to create a society in which are fashioned the details (of phenomenon) that we see—mutual understanding through languages, following of traditions, laws and habits in social and business dealings, and respecting general opinions and beliefs regarding good and evil, justice and injustice, obedience and disobedience, reward and punishment, and recompense and pardon.
As God, Glory be to Him, is the Creator of the night, the day and all that lives in them, and He is alone in their invention, therefore He owns whatever lives in the night and the day; and He is the true owner of all the night and day, and their inhabitants, including whatever follows their existence, e.g., various events, actions and words. He also owns the system that flows in the whole universe with its wonderful spaciousness. So, He very well hears our words, voices and signs; and very well knows our actions and deeds whether they are good or bad, just or unjust, helpful to others or hurtful, and whatever the soul earns of the happiness and misfortune.
How can He be ignorant of it when everything has appeared in His domain of ownership and by His permission? The existences of such types of issues like good and evil, justice and injustice, and obedience and disobedience; and also the languages that indicate the intended meanings—all these are matters of knowledge that cannot take place except on basis of knowledge. It is for this reason that none of our actions can be called good or bad, obedience or disobedience except when we are aware of those deeds and understand their meanings. In the same way, a combined voice is not called ‘speech’ unless we know it and relate to its meaning.
Thus, how is it possible that a human being as a created being possesses knowledge of his own person while his ultimate owner (that is, God) to be ignorant and unaware of it? (Ponder on it thoughtfully).
It is God, Glory be Him, Who invented this universe, with its wonderful spaciousness, in its simple and elemental ingredients which are compounded with a system that astonishes the intellect. Then, He created us and made us inhabit the night and day, then He increased us and established among us the system of human society; then He guided us to invention of languages, and consideration of customs; and He is always with us and with all the causes, step by step, and proceeds with us, minute by minute; and controls the events which we cannot count, one after another.
When a man utters a speech, God put its meaning in his heart by inspiration, made the word flow on his tongue through His specification; conveyed his voice to the listener’s ears by making him hear it, and it went with its meaning to his intellect through His preservation, and the meaning was understood by his cogitation through His education. Then He raised the thinker to agree with what the speaker has conveyed to him or to prevent him from it by creating a will to do it or an aversion to repulse him from it. And He, in all these stages which cannot be counted by fingers, is the leader, the motivator, the guide, the guard and the watcher. So, how can a man avoid believing that He, the Sublime, is the Hearing and the Knowing: No where is there a secret counsel between three persons but He is the fourth of them nor (between) five but He is the sixth of them, nor less than that nor more but He is with them wherever they are; then He will inform of what they did on the Day of Resurrection; surely Allah is Cognizant of all things ().
Likewise, (God is fully aware) when one of us does an action, whether good or bad; (He is cognizant of every stage of our creation:) a man is born from a father and a mother, they give birth to him under the watch of free choice and will; and he has reached them after treading on a distant path and unmeasured span of time, through the loins of active factors and the wombs of passive factors, until he ends in a situation that God knows better; and the Glorified God, in whose grasp is the earth and in whose hand is the heavens, was transferring him by His will from one lap to another until the person reached this world, the place of free will. Then He remained with him in one station after another by divine permission, until he came up to the real world and took his place in the abode of the day and night; after that he continues to flow in the chain (of cause and effect) that impact various parts of the universe like one of the flowing causes while all along, the Glorified God, was a witness on him and encompassed him. So, how is it possible that He, the Glorified, should be oblivious of a thing of this type? Does He not know, Who has created? And He is the Knower of subtleties, the Aware ().
It is clear from the above that the phrase: “and He is the Hearing, the Knowing”, is like the result of the phrase: “And to Him belongs whatever dwells in the night and the day.”
Although the Hearing and the Knowing are counted among the personal attributes of the Sublime which are not separate from His Sublime person and which do not depend on anything else, yet there is a type of knowledge (as well as the hearing and the seeing) that is an attribute of action separate from the person. It is an attribute whose existence depends on the occurrence of a related issue other than His person, like creation, sustenance, giving life and death, all of which depend on the existence of a created, sustained, living and dead being. Everything, in their essence and reality, are owned and encompassed by God. So, if they are sounds, they are heard by Him and made to hear by Him; if they are lights and colors, they are seen by Him and made to be seen by Him, and everything, whatever it may be, is known by Him and made to be known by Him. This type of knowledge is among His attributes of action, which take place when the action is done by God, not before it. The fact that this attribute took place after it was not there, does not mean that any change appears in His divine person, because it does not go beyond the station of action, and does not enter the station of person. So, when the verse draws result of knowledge from ownership it intends establishment of practical knowledge. (So think over it.)
The verse: “And to Him belongs whatever dwells in the night and the day; and He is the Hearing, the Knowing”, is like one of the premise of the proof which is explained in the preceding verse; because although the proof of the resurrection was completed by the words: “Say: ‘To whom belongs what is in the heavens and the earth?’ Say: ‘To God; He has ordained mercy on Himself…’,” yet the initial simple glance at it might be oblivious of the fact that God’s ownership of the things is concomitant to His knowledge of it and to His hearing of what is heard of it like sounds and speech.
That is why God highlights it by repeating the ownership of the heavens and the earth, and links the hearing and knowledge to it. So, He said: “And to Him belongs whatever dwells in the night and the day”—it is synonymous with the words: “Say ‘To whom belongs what is in the heavens and the earth?’ Say: ‘To God’. “ So this verse is like a premise which completes the proof given in the preceding verse.
This verse—even though we have not been able to do full justice to its explanation, and it can never be done—is among the finest Qur’anic verses in meaning, the most delicate in demonstration and argumentation, and the most eloquent in speech.
قُلْ أَغَيْرَ اللَّهِ أَتَّخِذُ وَلِيًّا فَاطِرِ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ وَهُوَ يُطْعِمُ وَلَا يُطْعَمُۗ قُلْ إِنِّي أُمِرْتُ أَنْ أَكُونَ أَوَّلَ مَنْ أَسْلَمَ ۖ وَلَا تَكُونَنَّ مِنَ الْمُشْرِكِينَ ١٤
(6:14) Say: “Shall I take a guardian besides Allah, the Originator of the heavens and the earth, and He feeds (others) and is not (Himself) fed.” Say: “I am commanded to be the first who submits himself, and you should not be of the polytheists.”
Now begins the argument for His Unity and that He has no partner.
By studying the history of idolatry and how the idols and false deities were adopted, one can gather that people submitted to it and bowed before the idols for one of the two reasons: Either they found themselves in need of a multitude of factors for preserving their lives, like partaking of food, clothes, dwellings, spouses, children, clan and so on; the most important being the food which according to simple view man needs it more than any other thing. Also, they thought that each kind of these needs is attached to a specific cause that arranges to magnanimously fulfil that particular need, like the cause which produces rain which helps the earth in growing pasture and greenery for their cattle and produces good grain for themselves; and there is the cause which manages the affairs of mountains and valleys; or the one which produces love and affection; or the factor which controls affairs of sea and the ships that traverse it. So, they realized that they don’t possess sufficient power to gain control over that need or other necessities and they were forced to humble themselves to the cause relevant to their need and took it as a god and started worshiping it.
Or, alternatively, they found the defenceless man target of the arrows of accidents, surrounded by great and general evils and calamities which he cannot stop, like flood, earthquake, deluge, famine and epidemic; and besieged by other small tests and trials, like illness, pains, stumbling, wretchedness and barrenness; enemy, envier and opponent, etc. Then they fabricated for them dominating causes that inflict calamities upon men in order to break their back and pollute their good life. They believed that such factors were sublime creatures like gods of each species, the spirits of the stars, and celestial bodies. Thus, they took them as gods, fearing their wrath and anger, and worshiped them in order to keep them on their side with their worship and to please them by humbling themselves to them in order to free themselves from calamities and misfortunes, and to be safe from their evil and harms that would have descended on them.
The verse, that is: “Say: ‘Shall I take a guardian besides God…’” and the following verses, argue against the polytheists by reversing their two proofs against themselves; that is, it accepts the basic argument and considers it as correct, but it clarifies that its inevitable conclusion is that they should worship the Glorified God alone, and it negates every supposed partner.
So, His Word, the Sublime: “Say: ‘Shall I take a guardian besides God, the Originator of the heavens and the earth, and He feeds (others) and is not (Himself) fed;’” point to the proof from the first basis (of idolatry), and it is the way of hope, that He should be worshiped because He is the Benefactor, and thus His worship will be the gratitude for His blessings and also bring forth more blessings.
He, Glory be to Him ordered His Prophet to explain to them in the style of questioning that the Glorified God alone is the guardian of all blessings that man and others enjoy, since He is the Sustainer Who does not need anyone to sustain Him, He feeds and is not fed. Its proof is that it is He Who has originated the heavens and the earth, and brought them forth from the darkness of non-existence to the light of existence; and bestowed on them the bounty of reality and existence. Thereafter, He poured over them the bounties which no one can count except Him—all this to continue its existence; among them is the feeding of man and the others. All these bounties are prepared to preserve the existence of man and others, and the causes that lead these bounties to their due places, this entire end at His origination and invention of the things and the causes and their effects are all among His makings.
So to Him, the Glorified, returns sustenance whose most important manifestation for man is feeding; so it is incumbent on all to worship God alone, because He is the One who feeds us without any need of anybody feeding Him.
The above description makes it clear that:
First: The expression of worship and divinity by using the word: walīy (guardian) in the verse: “Shall I take a guardian beside God”, is only because of the proof based on God’s bounty of providing food.
Second: Its connection with the phrase: “the Originator of the heavens and the earth”, aims at explaining the reason why provision of food is confined to the Almighty as was elaborated earlier. Perhaps that may be inferred from the allusion of the word: and (He) is not fed, since it eludes to the fact that all those who are taken for gods, like Jesus and others are in need of food, etc.
It is possible to infer from this phrase in the proof that it points to yet another way of establishing His Unity which is better than the two ways (mentioned above). It means, in short, that God is the Originator of the universe and everything eventually leads to His creation; hence it is incumbent to surrender and submit to Him.
Why is this way of argument better? Although the first two ways lead to the result of monotheism inasmuch as He deserves worship; yet there remains one thing: the two paths lead to the incumbency of His worship either on basis of need of the bounties or on basis of fear of the punishment. So, the actual purpose is either seeking of the blessing or protecting from the wrath—not the Almighty’s own person. But this path leads to the incumbency of God’s worship because He is God, the Sublime.
Third: Although there are a multitude of Divine blessings, yet from all those God has especially mentioned the provision of food because feeding is simply the most obvious need of living creatures including the man.
Then, the Sublime ordered, after the completion of the argument of His Prophet, to mention to them what would support this intellectual proof: That God has ordered him, through revelation, to proceed in believing in God on the path which is led by the intellect, and it is monotheism; and has clearly forbidden him to cross on to the path that leads to the polytheists. So, He said: Say: “I am commanded to be the first who submits himself,” and then He said: “and you should not be of the polytheists;” ().
Now, two things remain here:
One: That His Word: the first who submits himself, if it means the first who submitted from amongst you, then the meaning is clear since he had submitted before his ummah; and if it means “the first” to submit without any condition, then this priority will be in rank, not in time.
Two: Since the result of the proof was servitude, and that is a sort of submission and humility, it was better to use the word, Islam, in this place, instead of īmān, because Islam points to the purpose of worship, that is, submission.
قُلْ إِنِّي أَخَافُ إِنْ عَصَيْتُ رَبِّي عَذَابَ يَوْمٍ عَظِيمٍ ١٥
(6:15) Say: “Surely I fear, if I disobey my Lord, the chastisement of a grievous day.”
This is the second of the two paths which the polytheists had adopted for believing in gods: worshiping the gods protects them from their wrath and from descending of their chastisement.
Thus, God has taken in this argument the most fearful aspect of what one must fear of the kinds of punishment, and that is the punishment of the Hour of resurrection which is the heaviest in the heavens and the earth. This is similar to what He had taken in the first argument regarding the greatest need of man and that is, by first glance of the bounties, the provision of food.
The phrase: “if I disobey my Lord”, has been used instead of, “if I ascribed anyone with my Lord”, it points to the phrase in the preceding verse: and you should not be of the polytheists, which forbids the Holy Prophet from polytheism. The verse thus says: It is rationally incumbent upon me to worship God alone so that I may be safe from what I fear of the punishment of the grievous day. It is not only based on the guidance given to me from my Lord’s revelation; this is the conclusion to which reason has guided me.
In this way, this verse runs parallel to the preceding one, inasmuch as both establish rational proof first and then support it by the divine revelation. So, understand it. This is among the finest abbreviations of the noble Qur’an as it explained this comprehensive meaning merely by using the word ‘disobey’ in place of ‘Ascribed anyone’.
مَنْ يُصْرَفْ عَنْهُ يَوْمَئِذٍ فَقَدْ رَحِمَهُ ۚ وَذَٰلِكَ الْفَوْزُ الْمُبِينُ ١٦
(6:16) He from whom it is averted on that day, Allah indeed has shown mercy to him; and this is a manifest achievement:
The meaning is clear. The verse completes the proof given in the preceding verse. At the simple glance, that verse apparently shows that the Holy Prophet established the argument regarding incumbency of monotheism upon himself by saying that God has forbidden polytheism to him, so it is incumbent on him to believe in God’s Unity in order to be safe from the next world’s chastisement.
It will appear to a negligent unmindful person that the argument may be turned against the Holy Prophet by saying that the prohibition was confined to you, as you claim, so the fear and incumbency of monotheism also should be reserved for you. Therefore, the argument does not mean that the belief of monotheism and rejection of any partner was incumbent on anybody other than yourself, and it will be a proof against you, not against anyone else.
So, the Divine Word: “He from whom it is averted on that day, God indeed has shown mercy to him”; show that the Divine chastisement covers and encompasses all; there is no escape from it except through His mercy. Therefore, it is incumbent on every person to fear the chastisement of that day for himself as the Holy Prophet fears it for himself; so the proof is general and is established against all the people, and not confined to him only.
وَإِنْ يَمْسَسْكَ اللَّهُ بِضُرٍّ فَلَا كَاشِفَ لَهُ إِلَّا هُوَ ۖ وَإِنْ يَمْسَسْكَ بِخَيْرٍ فَهُوَ عَلَىٰ كُلِّ شَيْءٍ قَدِيرٌ ١٧
(6:17) And if Allah touch you with affliction, there is none to take it off but He; and if He visit you with good, then He has power over all things:
The two proofs described in the preceding verses were taken as example of what man hopes for (and that was provision of food) and as example of what he fears (and that is the punishment of the Day of Resurrection). Therefore, the explanation was completed with two examples; and the two verses, however, did not mention other kinds of harms and benefits that God sends down to His servants. All these are from God, glorified is His name.
The verse clearly describes that there are harms other than the punishment of the Day of Resurrection that God afflicts upon man, and it is necessary for him to approach God for its removal. Likewise there are blessings that God bestows upon man, and there is no one to avert His grace or a snag to prevent His bestowal as He has power over every thing; and the hope of blessings makes it incumbent upon man to take Him as God, deserving of worship.
It is possible to imagine that since God touches man with harm or good, therefore He deserves to be worshiped (and the opponent does not deny it); yet it does not prove that divinity and being worshiped is reserved for the Almighty. Because what the idolaters have taken as gods are intermediary causes and powerful intercessors that can affect the world positively or negatively, and that makes it incumbent upon man to seek proximity to them out of fear of their evil or in hope of their good.
This argument is rejected on the basis that God, Glory be to Him is Omnipotent over His servants (“then He has power over all things”); none of them is above or equal to Him. They themselves as well as their actions and effects are under His domination. They do not do any good or bad action except by His (creative) permission and will. They are not at all independent in any affair, nor do they possess for themselves any harm, benefit or anything else. Whatever good or bad effect rises from the horizon of their persons ends at His command, will and permission, and is attributed to Him as it may be appropriate to attribute based on His glory and power.
The two verses together complete one meaning: that whatever good or bad touches the man is from God according to what can be appropriately attributed to His divine person; so the glorified God is alone in divinity, alone as deserving to be worshiped, there is no god other than Him, and none is to be worshiped except Him.
God has expressed the affliction of harm and good with the word, ‘touching’, as an indication of insignificance in His speech: “if He touches you” and “and if He visit (that is, touches) you.” It shows that whatever harm or good afflicts man is an easy task from His unlimited power against which nothing can stand; a limited creature cannot master it or bear it.
Probably the words that speak about visiting with good, “then He has power over all things”, serve to show what we had mentioned earlier that there is no one to avert His grace so that it proves that Almighty God has power over every supposed good, just as He has power over every supposed harm; and it manifests the reason of His Word: “there is none to take it off but He”; because if anyone else were to take off the affliction which God inflicts upon a person, then it would push aside God’s power over it; and likewise, “He has power over all things” demands that nothing should be capable of averting the good that He bestows upon a person.
The verse specifically links the touching of harm or good to the Holy Prophet. It is similar to the confinement seen in the verse: Say: “Surely I fear, if I disobey my Lord, the chastisement of a grievous day;” while the verse: And He is the Supreme, above His servant, is of the general nature like that found in the words, He from whom it is averted on that day, Allah indeed has shown mercy to him.
وَهُوَ الْقَاهِرُ فَوْقَ عِبَادِهِ ۚ وَهُوَ الْحَكِيمُ الْخَبِيرُ ١٨
(6:18) And He is the Supreme, above His servants; and He is the Wise, the Aware:
al-Qahr is a sort of domination; it means that a thing overcomes another thing and compels it to follow an effect of the dominant thing (which goes against the effect of the dominated thing in nature or so on); for example, water overcomes fire and forces it to extinguishment, and fire overcomes water and turns it into steam or makes it dry. Since God has manifested the creative causes to serve as intermediaries in appearance of the events—so that they may exercise their impact on their effects; and these causes, whatever they may be, are compelled to obey what God wants in them and with them—its correct to say that these causes are dominated by God, and so God is the Supreme Dominator over them.
al-Qāhir is among the names which may be used for God as well as for others; yet there is a difference between His domination and that of others. Other things dominate one another while they coexist on an equal level of being and existence; for example, fire dominates wood by burning and inflaming it, both are physical beings with different demands of nature from one another, but the fire is more powerful in imposing its effect on the wood and so it overcomes the wood by stamping its effect on it.
However, God, Glory be to Him is dominant not like the domination of fire over wood; rather His dominance is thoroughly overwhelming and comprehensive. In the sense that when we ascribe burning and inflaming a body, example, firewood, to God, then He, the Glorified, dominates it through the limited existence which He has bestowed upon it. He dominates it through the characteristics and conditions which He has given it and put in it with His power. He dominates it through the fire which He kindles to burn and inflame it; and He owns all that is found in the fire of its essence and effect. He dominates it by disconnecting the gift of resistance from the firewood, and putting the burning and inflaming in its place so that there is no resistance, no defiance, no rebellion or any such thing vis-à-vis His will and intention, because it comes from a sublime horizon.
So, He, the Sublime, is Omnipotent over His servants while He is above them, and not like domination of one thing over the other that are equals. The noble Qur’an has confirmed this discussion by giving its result when it mentioned al-Qāhir as one of His names in two places in this chapter: this verse and the verse 61.
Thus, it has qualified this name in both places by the phrase: above His servants. The word, al-qahr, is mostly used where the dominated being is a rational being, contrary to the term al-ghalabah; and that is why al-Rāghib has explained it as degradation/demeaning; and degradation in rational ones is more apparent; but this does not prevent its application to non-rational beings in usage or with special consideration.
The Glorified God, Who is Omnipotent over His servants, touches them with harm and good, and degrades them for His obedience; He is Supreme above His servants in whatever they do and whatever effect they leave behind, because He is the Owner of what He has given in their ownership, and has power on whatever power that He has given them over others.
Since in the two verses under discussion He has ascribed the touching with harm and good to Himself, and sometimes they are ascribed to other than Him, He distinguished His own stand from that of others by the following phrase at the end of the verse: and He is the Wise, the Aware. ‘He is the Wise’ who does not do whatever He does haphazardly and ignorantly; and ‘He is the Aware’ who makes no mistakes nor does He err like others.
If we look at the Prophet’s spiritual creation, then he was the first not only in the rank but in the time too. He himself has said: “The first thing that God created was my light.” See ʿAbdu al-Ḥaqq Dehlawi, Madārij al-nubuwwah, p.3; al-Sīrah al-Ḥalabiyyah, vol.1, p.159. (Trans.) ↩︎
Although the elites among the idolaters allowed His worship but relying on the fact that He is of unlimited existence, they believed that devotional worship is irrelevant to Him. The general public among them, however, often worshiped Him in line with other gods, as is shown by the Meccan polytheists’ talbiyah in pre-Islamic ḥajj: Labbayk lā sharīka laka illa sharikan huwa laka, tamlikuhu wa mā malak, that is, Here I come (O my Lord), there is no partner to You, except a partner whom You dominate and whatever he owns. (Auth.) ↩︎