Commentary
And when it was from the meanings of honor that it is resistant due to the strength of its arrangement, the grandeur of its structure, and the majesty of its meanings from being subjected to any change, He clarified that with His saying: "Falsehood does not come to it"; meaning the clear falsehood that comes as a dominance, so it becomes or something of it is a clear falsehood. And when the intention was to generalize the negation, not the negation of generality, the preposition was included, so He said: "from before it"; meaning from the direction of the apparent, just as He informed about what was before it, "and nor from behind it"; from the direction of the hidden knowledge, like the knowledge of what has not become known of the occurring and the coming, whether it was a ruling or a report, because it is in the utmost of truthfulness and honesty. The result is that falsehood does not come to it from any direction, because what is in front is the clearest it can be, and what is behind is the most hidden it can be. So what is between that is more likely. Thus, the expression is a metaphor for that because the attribute of Allah has no behind or in front in reality. And similarly, there is no target behind Allah, nor is there an end below Allah. And similar to that is what the Arabs understand and from the knowledge of their language, intended without ambiguity. Then He explained that with His saying: "A revelation"; meaning according to the gradual process for the sake of interests, "from a Wise"; the One who is perfect in wisdom, for He places everything from it in the most complete places at the time of revelation and the context of the arrangement. "Praiseworthy"; meaning the One who is perfect in encompassing the attributes of perfection from wisdom and others, and in being free from any blemish of deficiency. Every creation praises Him with the language of its state if it does not praise Him with a spoken tongue, by what is apparent upon it from its deficiency or perfection. And the report is omitted, its estimation is: "They are surely losers" because they cannot achieve anything that they direct against Him from the criticism, for they are weak, powerless, and insignificant, as Al-Ma'arri said:
I see the great one is too big to be caught So contend with whom you can contend.
And omitting the report is more terrifying for the soul to go every way.
Explore Other Scholars on This Verse
Compare different scholarly perspectives on Surah Fussilat verse 42