And when He, glorified and exalted is He, informed that the supplication does not increase them except in aversion, the address was elevated [from the people] to a higher rank than them. He said, commanding them a permissive matter as well, which is an obligation in consuming what establishes the evidence and preserves it: ﴿O you who have believed, eat﴾. And Al-Harali said: When the advance of the address in the matter of religion is in two ranks, the first of them is ﴿O mankind, worship your Lord﴾ [Al-Baqarah: 21] and the second is ﴿O you who have believed, do not say 'Ra'ina'﴾ [Al-Baqarah: 104], He commanded the people therein with worship and commanded those who believed with good care alongside the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him. Likewise here, He commanded the people (p-336) to eat from what is in the earth and forbade following the footsteps of Satan. The address indicated that they are among those whom Satan directs towards the command of evil and immorality and speaking by desire. And He commanded those who believed to eat ﴿from good things﴾. He refrained in His address to them from mentioning the earth for their provision from the heavens. For the least of faith is the worship of the One in the heavens and seeking provision from the One in the heavens, as He said to the black woman: 'Where is Allah?' She said: 'In the heavens.' He said: 'Free her, for she is a believer.' Allah, glorified and exalted is He, said: ﴿And in the heavens is your provision﴾ [Adh-Dhariyat: 22]. So He fed the earthly ones, who are the people, from what is in the earth, and He fed the heavenly ones, who are those who believed, from the provision of the heavens likewise. This address was specifically mentioned with the word 'halal' as it was taking its provision from the heavens, consuming what is good for its purity from the state of what is in the earth, which has a harmful nature outwardly or harm inwardly. And for this reason, 'If the world were blood, the sustenance of the believer from it would be halal.' So the one seeking provision from the heavens becomes what is forbidden for him halal for his taking from it in times of necessity for sustenance, not for desire. And what is halal for him becomes good for his satisfaction from it (p-337) with sufficiency without desire: ﴿They ask you, what has been made lawful for them? Say, 'Lawful for you are the good things'﴾ [Al-Ma'idah: 4]. In the context of these two addresses is a clarification that the word 'for the people' applies to a level of the hearts, and the word ﴿those who have believed﴾ applies to a higher level than it. It does not apply to a generality that encompasses all heart levels. This was misunderstood by those with locked hearts that prevent contemplation of the Qur'an, for the address of the Qur'an is directed to every possessor of a level according to the level of their hearts. The address of every level is only suitable for it, and those below it cannot attain it, nor do those above it need it. These are multiple levels: the level of humanity, then the level of the people, then the level of those who have believed, then the level of those who believe, then the level of the believers, [then the level of the believers] in truth, then the level of the doers of good; these are seven levels whose addresses are arranged, some above others. And beyond that are levels above it from the level of the certain ones, and what is beyond that to the states of those during these levels from the state of those who have submitted and the Muslims and those described with reason, remembrance, thought, hearing, and other attributes that accompany those levels in ascending ranks that do not include the lowest of them the highest of them, nor does the lowest rise to the rank of the address of the highest (p-338) to what is beyond that from the specifics of the address of the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, in what is only suitable for him and for those who are like him from God. In the organization of detailing these ranks is a gathering of what occurs from its meaning in the rest of the Qur'an. It has ended. And when this rank is, as previously mentioned, higher than the rank of the people, He specifically addressed them after clarifying that what is not lawful is impure, saying: ﴿from good things﴾, and He did not come with that generality which the people are accustomed to.

And when they were in the early stages of faith, He alerted them to gratitude by His saying in the manifestation of greatness: ﴿What We have provided you﴾ and We have purified it for you from doubts. Do not expose yourselves to what contains impurity as the polytheists have permitted from the forbidden things. Do not prohibit what they have permitted among the sacrificial animals and what is with them. Then He clarified this in His saying [commanding a matter of obligation]: ﴿And be grateful to Allah﴾, meaning: and specify your gratitude to the Benefactor from whom there is no blessing except from Him. This is in contrast to what will come in Surah Al-Mu'minun, addressing the highest ranks of the pure ones, who are the messengers.

And when gratitude cannot be valid except with monotheism, He linked it to their exclusivity in worshiping Him alone by saying: ﴿If you alone﴾ meaning: only Him ﴿you worship﴾, for His exclusivity in that is a cause for gratitude. If the exclusivity, which is the cause, is negated, then gratitude is negated. Also, if the caused, which is gratitude, is negated, then exclusivity is negated because the cause is one. They are equal; each one of them rises with the elevation of the other. Al-Harali said: And when this address encompasses the consumption of the good and its gratitude, and its reality is the giving of the good, then gratitude for every blessing is to manifest it in its limit from wealth, status, knowledge, food, drink, or otherwise, and to spend its surplus, and to be content with the least of it, and to trade with its surplus for the sake of reward, and to deliver it to its people for the one who fulfills the trust, for indeed the hands of the servants are the treasures of the Generous King. "Let the people be provided by Allah from some of them to others." So when that cannot be completed except by knowing Allah, glorified and exalted is He, the replacer for whoever spends, as He said: ﴿And whatever you spend of anything, He will replace it﴾ [Saba: 39], they were alerted to their covenant which they were taught in Surah Al-Fatihah in His saying: ﴿You alone we worship and You alone we ask for help﴾ [Al-Fatihah: 5]. So it was said to them: Eat and be grateful if you alone worship Him; for whoever knows Allah by His generosity finds it easy to be generous, and whoever knows Allah by His blessings and kindness finds it easy to do good, and that is his gratitude to Allah. Whoever is certain of the replacement is generous with the gift. The end.