Commentary
And when this threat included knowledge and power, he said, referring to what he means by saying: For Allah is all that has been witnessed of our affair and your affair and the affair of the Knower of the unseen and the witnessed, all of it, from the beginning of our matters. "And for Allah" means the One who encompasses everything, along with that, "the unseen of the heavens and the earth" means: all that is hidden from the knowledge of the servants, for He is complete in knowledge. And among it is what He forbids, even if the ignorant think it is outside of His power due to what has been shown of the prohibition against it and of His dislike for it.
And when the context here is that He, glorified and exalted is He, created creation with their essences and meanings for the sake of difference, and their threat regarding sins might have implied that it was without His will, it might have been that an ignorant person said: I am innocent of those who oppose His allies very much. The habit of creation is that whoever opposes them is outside of their command. The response to the estimation of submission to this apparent matter is: For Him is the command, all of it, apparent and hidden. "And to Him" means: alone, "is returned" after it has appeared to the ignorant that he has gone outside of it; and the return is the going of a thing to where it began from. "The command is all of it" in the state of being unclear and hidden, and in wealth in the state of being apparent and clear. So He encompasses power as He encompasses knowledge. Therefore, your affair and the affair of your enemies must return to Him, meaning He will act in it as one whose affair returns to Him, rewarding the good-doer for his good and the wrongdoer for his wrong. For this reason, He caused all affairs to be attributed to Him by His saying: "So worship Him" means: alone in worship without any mixture in it, "and rely" depending in all your affairs "upon Him" for He is the Strong, the Firm. And in prioritizing the matter of worship over reliance, there is an indication that it is only beneficial for the worshiper.
And when the habit is that the scholar may be heedless, He, glorified and exalted is He, purified Himself from that and said, encouraging and warning: "And what is your Lord" means: the One who is good to you by what He does with the encompassing of His deeds in goodness. And He emphasized the negation by saying: "He is not heedless of what you do"; and there is no threat more effective than knowledge. And this is precisely what is contained in His saying, the Most High: "A Book whose verses have been perfected, then detailed from One Wise, All-Aware". "Do not worship except Allah; indeed, I am to you from Him a warner and a bringer of good tidings."
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