(p-140) Surah Luqman, blessings and peace be upon him. Its purpose is to establish wisdom for the Book, which necessarily contains the wisdom of its Revealer, glorified and exalted is He, in His sayings and actions. The story of Luqman, after whom the Surah is named, is a clear proof of that. It is as if He, glorified and exalted is He, when He completed what He intended from the beginning of the Qur'an to the end of Al-Bara'ah, which is the Surah of the Battle of Rome, and since He, glorified and exalted is He, began the Qur'an [after the Mother of the Book] by negating doubt about this Book, and that it is guidance for the righteous, and He provided evidence for that in what followed it from the Surahs. Then He began Surah Yunus after the Surah of the Battle of Rome by affirming His wisdom, and He followed that with His evidence until He concluded the Surah of Rome. He began a new cycle in a manner greater than the first, describing it at the beginning of this Surah following the one about Rome in the same way He described it in Yunus, which follows the Battle of Rome. That description is wisdom, and He added that it is guidance and direction for the good-doers. These are the people of endings, and the righteous are the people of beginnings. When He established in Al-Imran that it was revealed with truth, He established in As-Sajdah its revelation and negated doubt about it being from Him, and He affirmed that it is the truth. He continued in what followed this from the Surahs, often mirroring what had passed, as is known by the deep reflection, contemplation, and pondering: 'In the name of Allah,' who encompasses all things in mercy and knowledge (p-141), 'the Most Gracious,' who spread His wisdom broadly, encompassing His grace among all of His creation, 'the Most Merciful,' who illuminated for His special ones the path to His Paradise, so they remained and wandered in His love. When the Surah of Rome concluded with an encouragement towards knowledge, which this great Book contains, and the command to be patient and to hold onto what it contains of promises, and the prohibition against being overly optimistic towards the people of disdain in their descriptions, that was the wisdom. The first of this is: 'Alif Lam Meem,' indicating that Allah, the Most High, the Sustainer, sent - for He is the apparent while being the hidden - Gabriel, blessings be upon him, to Muhammad, blessings and peace be upon him, with a speaking revelation of wisdom and rulings that no Imam before him had spoken, nor will anything comparable to it follow him throughout the days. He is the beginning and the end, and to that alludes His expression with the tool of distance in His saying: 'Those are the verses,' which are from the exaltation and greatness in a place that can only be attained by one who strives against himself until he refines it by abandoning all vices and adorning it with all virtues. 'The verses of the Book' that encompasses all types of goodness, 'the Wise,' by placing things in their proper ranks, so nothing of its binding can be undone, nor can anything of its words be opposed. That indicates the completeness of the knowledge of its Revealer and His expertise, and the encompassing of His greatness and power, and the subtlety of His craftsmanship (p-142) in His wondrous wisdom. Thus, there must be victory for the believers and those who follow them in holding onto a Book that has a foundation from Allah.

Imam Abu Ja'far ibn al-Zubayr said: When the matter of reflection and encouragement towards it and the reminder of the wonders of creation was repeated in Surah Ar-Rum, as in His saying, "Do they not reflect upon themselves? Allah created the heavens and the earth and whatever is between them in truth" [Ar-Rum: 8], and His saying, "Have they not traveled in the earth?" [Ar-Rum: 9], and His saying, "Allah begins creation, then He returns it" [Ar-Rum: 11], and His saying, "He brings the living out of the dead, and He brings the dead out of the living" [Ar-Rum: 19], up to His saying, "Thus We detail the verses for a people who understand" [Ar-Rum: 28]. These are ten verses that carry a great deal of reflection and reminder, such that there remains no doubt or hesitation for whoever is guided to what follows this from the verses of reminder, the elaboration of proofs, and the mention of what the servants were created upon, and the examples that clarify the straight path for whoever understands their meanings and contemplates their wisdom, up to His saying, "And We have certainly presented to the people in this Quran every kind of example" [Ar-Rum: 58]. This is an indication of what Allah has placed in His clear Book from various examples and different admonitions, and what this Surah has carried of that. Then He, glorified is He, followed that with His saying of truth: "Alif Lam Meem" "These are the verses of the Wise Book," meaning its proofs and evidence for whoever is guided and for whom the good reward has preceded, and they are the doers of good whom He mentioned later. The description of the Book as wise testifies to what we have prepared. Then He, glorified is He, indicated those who have been deprived of its benefit and reflection upon it, and who have exchanged guidance for misguidance, and have deviated from the way of Allah's creation upon which He created people, as He said, "And among the people are those who buy idle talk" [Luqman: 6] - the verses. Then He followed that with what rebukes every obstinate one and cuts off every denier. He mentioned the creation of the heavens without visible pillars, which there is no doubt about in its matter. Then He mentioned the creation of the earth and what He has placed in it. Then He, glorified is He, said, "This is the creation of Allah, so show Me what those besides Him have created" [Luqman: 11]. Then He followed that with the mention of whoever has been guided to the way of the fitrah, so that doubts did not lead him astray nor did he deviate from the straight path, as He said, "And We certainly gave Luqman wisdom" [Luqman: 12] - the verse, to establish whoever follows the fitrah of Allah that was mentioned earlier in Surah Ar-Rum. Then the speech harmonized and interwove. The end.