And when faith in resurrection, rather certainty, is one of the greatest objectives in this surah, and it has reached this context which is for affirming the pillars of ability over resurrection, along with the differences in methodologies and the variation of paths, He first clarified by responding to the disbeliever what necessitates faith. He also made the astonished witness what concludes certainty above that clarification in the story of the Friend, blessings and peace be upon him, to what affirms tranquility. And He, glorified and exalted is He, established the matter of resurrection in this surah after it was indicated by Al-Fatiha on the Day of Judgment in the best establishment. He spread its stars throughout the heavens of its verses and distributed its signs in its regions among its evidences and clear proofs, as is the action of the Wise One who casts what He wills gradually, without haste or deficiency. So He, glorified and exalted is He, repeated His mention of the Hereafter at one time and resurrection at another time, in this world at one time and in the Hereafter at another time, in similar words.

﴿And in the Hereafter they have certainty﴾ [Al-Baqarah: 4] ﴿How can you disbelieve in Allah while you were dead and He brought you to life?﴾ [Al-Baqarah: 28] ﴿Then We raised you up after your death﴾ [Al-Baqarah: 56] ﴿Thus Allah brings the dead to life﴾ [Al-Baqarah: 73] ﴿So Allah said to them: Die, then He brought them to life﴾ [Al-Baqarah: 243] And what was from similar examples and their counterparts and forms in those intended styles is often specifically for others. Thus, the souls of the deniers became prepared to hear the evidence for it until He brought to them the matter of His close friend, blessings and peace be upon him, and greetings and honor. It was as if it was said: O deniers of resurrection and those who express amazement at it and those who imitate their forefathers in the matter with news, most of which are false! Listen to the story of your father Ibrahim ﷺ, which has brought you the evidence for resurrection and the gathering of the scattered and the return of the soul by informing of one who cannot be accused of the testimony of the Qur'an, which has incapacitated you from bringing forth something like it. So his testimony is the testimony of Allah, so that you may become certain knowledge, rather the eye of certainty. So He said, the Exalted: ﴿And when﴾, as a conjunction to the manner of remembering what has been recited to you of the matter of resurrection and remembering the story of your father Ibrahim in what indicates it. And Al-Harali said: And when (p-62) the matter of the Revealer of the Qur'an is the establishment of the religion with its written form and its limits, He, the Exalted, concluded it. Then He organized with it what He organized from its public in the Ayat of Al-Kursi and arranged upon that the religion of Islam, which is a submission like the submission of the hand at death. He organized with it the matter of resurrection, which there is no entrance for the servants in its matter. So He, glorified and exalted is He, arranged the mention of resurrection in three states: the state of the denier whose end has reached to [confusion], then the state of the one who distances himself, whose end has reached to knowledge and faith, and He concluded the address to the state of the believer whose state has reached certainty, tranquility, and the vision of the dominion in the dominion of the earth. It has ended. So He said, glorified and exalted is He: ﴿And when Ibrahim said﴾. And indeed, the arrangement and expression in these three verses has taken the utmost extent of beauty, for it began with one who wanted to conceal what the evidences have clarified of the matter of the God in bringing to life by claiming for himself participation in a metaphorical resurrection, misleadingly by a term indicating his distance and curse and expulsion. Then with one who distanced the resurrection of the village, so Allah, glorified and exalted is He, showed him the manner of the true resurrection as a sign for him and a completion of the response to that, along with the inclination towards him with address and the pleasure of companionship. Then with one who asked for the honor of Allah, the Exalted, to show him how He brings to life so that he may be firm, then it confirmed, then it established. And the relevance of the three is in that they are in the resurrection of the bodies with the souls (p-63) for what preceded it, which is in the resurrection of the souls with the secrets of righteousness, is the most appropriate relevance. The intended warning is against the state of the first and the urging to ascend from the degree of the second to the station of the third, whose reality is the truth in faith for the hope of attaining what he has been honored with. And for that, he expressed in his story by saying: And when, and did not present it in the manner of amazement like the first. ﴿O my Lord﴾, meaning: O You who are good to me, ﴿Show me how You bring the dead to life﴾. Al-Harali said: He sought what he is worthy of by what Allah, the Exalted, said.

﴿And thus We show Ibrahim the dominion of the heavens and the earth﴾ [Al-An'am: 75]. From the dominion of the earth is the resurrection. So He, glorified and exalted is He, established the reality of his state from the affirmation of faith. He said, beginning: ﴿He said﴾. And when the implication was: Did you not know that I am capable of resurrection because I am capable of all things, He added to His saying: ﴿Did you not believe﴾. For indeed, faith encompasses all of that. ﴿He said: Yes﴾. It became clear that his request for the manner of resurrection was not from any remaining doubt in faith. It was an indication that most of those who seek the manner in matters only seek it out of weakness in their faith. Whoever seeks it for the affirmation of faith, while there are enough signs below the manner, does not benefit from the verse in his faith. This is because its sufficiency is in what is below it, and it has not been made known for certainty due to the deficiency of his faith from its complete limit. When faith is complete by the ruling of His signs which are in the existence of Allah's wisdom in this world, His clear signs lead to the vision of the dominion of the world in the rank of certainty. Just as the people of unveiling among the truthful in the matter of Allah found their certainty, whenever a weak believer shares with them in a matter of witnessing the unveiling or miracles, he seeks in it an interpretation. Perhaps it would be a trial upon him that diminishes what he has of his share of faith until perhaps hypocrisy enters him, which he cannot escape from unless Allah rescues him. For this reason, He, glorified and exalted is He, expressed His address to His friend ﷺ to establish faith so that the elevation from it to the rank of certainty would be correct. This is similar to what has preceded in His absolute saying, glorified and exalted is He: ﴿Allah is the ally of those who have believed. He brings them out from darkness into light﴾ [Al-Baqarah: 257]. It has been mentioned about the friend, blessings and peace be upon him, that he looked at the body of a creature scattered by the creatures of the sea, the creatures of the land, and the birds of the air. He was astonished by it and said: O Lord! I have known that You will gather them, so show me how You will resurrect them so that I may witness that. For indeed, the certainty of witnessing is based on the establishment of faith. ﴿But﴾ I want the witnessing ﴿to be assured﴾ from the tranquility, which is the calmness and stillness upon the equality of creation and the moderation of character. ﴿My heart﴾ is one that is created to attain something and is inclined towards it. When Ibrahim, blessings and peace be upon him, was prepared to accept tranquility, the request for it was cast into his heart. Allah responded to him with what He had prepared for him. So He, glorified and exalted is He, set forth for him a parable that He showed him, making it the flow of witnessing clear certainty. This is because Allah, glorified and exalted is He, is the One who cannot be counted or limited. And it is from the descent of His manifestation to His servants that He is the One God, and the One is free from counting. The first appearance of creation was the first appearance of counting. So the first count is two. ﴿And of everything We created pairs﴾ [Adh-Dhariyat: 49]. So two is a count, which is the creation of each one of them as one. So He, exalted, made two, each one of them as two, so that the duality in it would be both a whole and a part, making a pair from a pair. Thus, that count was four. So Allah, glorified and exalted is He, made it a foundation for His creations, and their total was an odd number. So He made the sustenance from four.

﴿And He determined therein its sustenance in four days﴾ [Fussilat: 10]. And He made the elements from which He created the forms of the creatures four. He made the regions four, and He made the lifespans four. And he, blessings and peace be upon him, said: "The best companions are four, the best delegations are forty, the best battalions are four hundred, and the best armies are four thousand." The quadrants in the principles of creation are many, which the scholars have followed and the wise have observed. ﴿He it is who sent among the unlettered a messenger (p-66) from them﴾ [Jumu'ah: 2], the verse. And when the creation of Adam and the other creatures was from the essence of the elements, which are water, soil, air, and fire, He manifested from them the forms. ﴿And He fashioned you and made your forms good﴾ [Taghabun: 3]. Then He, glorified and exalted is He, manifested His power by causing death and annihilating His forms. "Every son of Adam is consumed by the earth except for the tailbone; from it he was created and in it he will be reconstructed." So He spread them in four regions: east, west, north, and south. I see His friend, blessings and peace be upon him, how he calls His creation from the four corners of its horizons after they were spread and mixed, and their parts were joined together without limit. It is said that Ali, may Allah be pleased with him, struck with his hand on a clay cup and said: "How many smooth cheeks and kohl-rimmed eyes are in it!" ﴿Indeed, We know what the earth diminishes of them﴾ [Qaf: 4]. So I see, glorified and exalted is He, His friend, blessings and peace be upon him, as an example from all of that. ﴿He said, 'So take'﴾ with the 'fa' to affirm his saying and to confirm what has been realized of his faith and to express his deserving of certainty and tranquility by the establishment of his faith. ﴿Four of the birds﴾ is a name of a gathering from the meaning of what is flying, which is the lightness from the weight of what is not meant to rise in the air. He, exalted is He, made the example from the birds because the elements gathered in the bodies are birds that fly to their nests and centers which Allah, exalted is He, has designated for them as a creation (p-67) in it, not by a necessary nature from it. For indeed, Allah, the Mighty and Majestic, is the Wise who made wisdom. Whoever witnesses Him with wisdom and witnesses that He is the maker of it is wise in it. And whoever witnesses worldly wisdom and does not witness that He is its maker is ignorant of it. So wisdom is the witnessing of wisdom made by Allah of every essence that is made, and every meaning that is defined, and every reality that is realized. The nature and what is in it is made by Allah; whoever is ignorant of it has deviated, and whoever has realized it has defined it. Likewise, the rational and what is in it is a borrowing from Allah and a manifestation of the command of Allah. Whoever adheres to it and believes in it does not detach the relationship of the definition in nature and needs a refuge from the trials of interpretation in the unseen of the law. And everything other than the truth is a placed entity given a share and a limit; it attains what it has been given and is incapable of what is above it. For the minds have a limit at which they stop and do not exceed. For that reason, He, exalted is He, made them birds that are confined by the cage of form and the completion of the arrangement, and their cohesion is manifested by the blowing of the spirit.

﴿So gather them﴾ meaning, bring them close to you, ﴿so that you may know their shapes﴾ and that would be more certain in their matter. Al-Harali said: It is from the shapes, and it is the inclination of hearts through kindness until their leaning and inclination towards the one who inclines them becomes strong. His indication informs, and Allah, glorified and exalted is He, knows best that Ibrahim, blessings and peace be upon him, raised them and nurtured them until they recognized him. This is to be an example of what Allah, glorified and exalted is He, does in His creation, from His nurturing them with their creation and provision until they recognized Him by what they needed. They found Him with a knowledge of inability towards Him, not a knowledge of attainment of Him. Whenever He calls them from the corners of the horizons, they respond to Him like these birds responding to their friend with a small share of his nurturing for them. If these four respond to the friend, blessings and peace be upon him, with this small share of shapes and inclination, how would the response of the multitude be to the Majestic, Mighty, and Wise! Allah, glorified and exalted is He, said: ﴿Then make﴾ an addition with the word of the gathering, surpassing after their nurturing from slaughtering them, studying them, and mixing them until they became one flesh, in which nothing from the departing shapes is apparent, just as newborns become dust at their death and their dispersal into a single dust-like form, so that the example and the exemplified match perfectly to what is beyond that from surpassing an indication and a vision ﴿on every mountain﴾ from the nearby mountains to you ﴿a part of them﴾ and the part is a portion of the whole that resembles it, like a piece of gold and the like. So He made the mountains like the corners, and they are more elevated in sight and farther from confusion.

﴿If it is nothing but a single shout, then they will all be brought before Us﴾ [Yasin: 53] ﴿Indeed, it is but a single cry﴾ [An-Nazi'at: 13] (p-69) ﴿Then they will be at the place of gathering﴾ [An-Nazi'at: 14]. What was by the shout and the cry of the one who is present was by the supplication in the like, just as what was by creation and provision in the like was by forms in the like, and He made it a part where some resembles others. ﴿Then call them, they will come to you hastening﴾. And hastening is running and the intent that is quick in the senses. The meaning in the coming of the bird is that it has a share of its bounty, and in its coming hastening is a share of its humility. For this reason, He brought them to Him hastening in the state of the humble seeker of provision and safety from the hand from which he has been promised provision and the side from which he is familiar with safety. So the like began to correspond to the presence, and its goal is the sight of the eye. Thus, it became certain and assured. And this is not more astonishing than the walking of stones at times and trees at other times and their branches to serve His chosen son ﷺ. "And likewise, the hand of Mu'awidh ibn Afra after it was cut off, and he came carrying it as mentioned in the biographies in the Battle of Badr, and it became like its sister." In things of such examples, although he had from reviving the dead what I will mention in the family of Imran, and there was for some of his nation from that what Al-Bayhaqi mentioned in the proofs of it a great number. And it was not abundant on his ﷺ hand because he was sent to a people who do not acknowledge resurrection, and the foundation of faith is belief in the unseen. If that were to occur frequently for him ﷺ, the veil would be lifted, and if the veil were lifted, those who lagged behind in believing would be hastened to punishment, and he is the Prophet of mercy ﷺ. As for 'Isa (peace be upon him), he was among a people who believe in the Hereafter, so his action was to demonstrate the miracle in a type higher than what they could reach through medicine. And there is no difference in demonstrating the extraordinary between one and more. And Allah, glorified and exalted is He, is the one who grants success.

And when He, glorified and exalted is He, showed him the dominion of the earth, that vision became a sign of Allah's might beyond the dominion in the realm of power. He said: "And know that Allah" meaning the One who encompasses knowledge and power, "is Mighty." And when might has a dominance that the natures of inventors cannot withstand, He, exalted is He, brought the address down to the level of His wisdom and said: "Wise." Thus, there is an indication that He, glorified and exalted is He, made things some of them from some others existing, and some of them directed towards each other, and some of them from that some being adversarial. "From it We created you, and in it We will return you, and from it We will bring you out another time" [Taha: 55]. And this is the wisdom referred to by His name, the Wise. It is a dominion wisdom that encompasses the connection between the wisdom of this world and the wisdom of the Hereafter. For the true wise one is not the one whom Allah taught the wisdom of this world and adorned him with it, but rather that is its ignorant one, as has been mentioned. Rather, the wise one is the one whom Allah has made witness to the wisdom of this world, lands, celestial bodies, stars, horizons, and births and generations. And He made him witness that He is its Wise, and He mixed for him the knowledge of the wisdom of the existence of this world with the knowledge of the wisdom of the existence of the Hereafter. And He showed him how the two wisdoms interact with each other and the outcome of each of them towards the other, until he witnesses the rotation of things in the wisdom of the matter of the Hereafter, which is the unseen of this world, to the witnessed wisdom of this world, then to the witnessed wisdom of the Hereafter, likewise returning to a beginning and beginning to a return in the manifestation of the unseen of the beginning to its witnessed form, and in the return of its witnessed form to its unseen. "They said: Our Lord, You have caused us to die twice and You have given us life twice" [Ghafir: 11]. Likewise, to the greatest human return, "The Day He gathers you for the Day of Gathering; that is the Day of Mutual Loss" [Al-Taghabun: 9]. This is the wise one who is the intermediary of wisdom. Then beyond that is another matter from the command of Allah in the exalted manifestations of His names and attributes, which He is exalted and magnified for the believers, and He is blessed and makes Himself known to the certain monotheists. For Him, glorified and exalted is He, is might in His creation and command, and for Him is wisdom in His creation and command, and beyond it is His word, the detailing of which does not exhaust its wisdom. "Say: If the sea were ink" [Al-Kahf: 109], and His words cannot be limited or counted. "And if all the trees on earth were pens" [Luqman: 27]. So He is the Mighty, the Wise, the Most High, the Most Great. This has concluded. And it is higher than precious jewels. It has become evident that the aim of the Friend, blessings and peace be upon him, is the transition from the knowledge of certainty to the eye of certainty, rather to the truth of certainty. It is as if he considered the worldly rank of tranquility in relation to the higher rank as nothing. And it was said: Rather, his aim in the question was the vision of the Giver of Life, but he sought it indirectly, and he was answered with the prohibition of it by describing the might indirectly. And when Musa, blessings and peace be upon him, asked directly, he was answered directly. And the question of the Friend, blessings and peace be upon him, is not in the face of doubt. And the saying of the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, "We are more deserving of doubt than Ibrahim" guides to that, for he, blessings and peace be upon him, did not doubt. And if doubt is negated from the more deserving, it is all the more negated from others. And even if we concede, the intended meaning is that he acted like the one who doubts, generally applying the name of the necessary to the necessary in the sentence. As for the doubt itself, the Qur'an has explicitly negated it from him, blessings and peace be upon him, with His saying "Indeed" and implicitly by the fact that this verse follows the verse of his argument against the one who was dumbfounded. It has been reported that Sheikh Ahmad, the brother of the Proof of Islam, Al-Ghazali, was asked: Which is the higher rank, the Ibrahimic in the question of tranquility or the lofty rank of the one who says: If the veil were lifted, I would not increase in certainty? He said: The Ibrahimic, due to His saying, "And they denied it while their souls were certain of it" [An-Naml: 14].