And when these letters were, and Allah knows best, an indication of the gathering as mentioned at the end of the previous surah, Allah, glorified and exalted is He, said: ﴿Thus﴾, meaning like this great revelation which your Lord has informed you of clearly. The beginning of 'Fussilat' is that the deity is one God, and its end is that nothing is said to you except what has been said to the messengers before you. And that He gathers your nation upon this religion by which it becomes clear to them that this Qur'an is the truth by what He shows them of the clear signs and evident proofs in the horizons and in themselves, and by His testimony, glorified is He, of the miraculous nature of the Qur'an for all humans and jinn, especially when a misguided person attempts to oppose it, like Musaylimah, for it becomes clear to them the matter in the utmost clarity. 'And by its opposite, things become clear.' And He indicated to you, glorified is He, at the beginning of this surah with these disconnected letters which are higher and more precious than adorned jewels, to such a thing. They are two types of revelation: clear and expressive, and indication and hint.

And when the aim was to convey that the revelation from Him, glorified is He, is a continuous habit for all His prophets and messengers, and the good news for him, blessings and peace be upon him, of its renewal for him during his lifetime, confirming his heart, and indicating the continuity of His love for him, He expressed it with the present tense which indicates renewal and continuity. It was previously mentioned at the beginning of Al-Baqarah, transmitted from Abu Hayyan and before him Al-Zamakhshari and others, that it may not indicate a specific time, but rather the absolute existence is intended. He said: 'It is revealed to you,' meaning previously and subsequently as long as you are alive. This does not cease from you at all, nor does it diminish by what He intends from His matters which elevate your status, spread your lights, and raise your beacon. And when the concern was with revelation to know that it is the truth, as indicated by the reading of Ibn Kathir with the passive construction, and the one revealing it to know that he is truly a messenger, and the intended meaning of the present tense was merely to establish its implication without indicating the future, it is correct that his saying can relate to it, being placed before the subject: ﴿And to those﴾, and the one standing in place of the subject in the reading of Ibn Kathir is a pronoun that refers back to 'Thus.'

And when the messengers were some of those who preceded in some times of the past, he included the neighbor and said: ﴿before you﴾ meaning from the noble messengers and the distinguished prophets, that your nation is the most numerous of nations and that you are the most honored of the prophets. And he took from each of them the covenant to follow you, and to be among your supporters and followers. And when he presented what is more important from the revelation and what is revealed to him, he came with the doer of ﴿reveals﴾ in the reading of the general public and said: ﴿Allah﴾ meaning the One who has the encompassing attributes of perfection. And it is raised according to Ibn Kathir with an implied action whose estimation is: the One who reveals to him. And when the enforcement of the command was revolving around might and wisdom, he said: ﴿the Mighty﴾ meaning the One who overcomes everything and nothing overcomes Him, ﴿the Wise﴾ meaning the One who places what He does in the most perfect of places. Therefore, He cannot be unable to nullify what He has decreed, nor to diminish what He has perfected.

And Imam Abu Ja'far ibn al-Zubayr said: Since Surah Ghafir contains what has preceded from the explanation of the states of the obstinate and the deniers, and it follows with Surah As-Sajda an explanation that the state of the disbelievers of the Arabs in that is like the state of those who preceded them, and a clarification that it is the glorious book and its great proof, and with that, he did not find upon whom Allah, the Exalted, has decreed with disbelief, the two surahs followed with what Surah Ash-Shura contained of that all of this occurred according to what has preceded in His knowledge, the Exalted, by the decree of eternity: ﴿A group in Paradise and a group in the Blaze﴾ [Ash-Shura: 7] ﴿And you are not a guardian over them﴾ [Ash-Shura: 6] ﴿And if Allah had willed, He would have made them one nation﴾ [Ash-Shura: 8] ﴿And if it were not for the word of separation, it would have been judged between them﴾ [Ash-Shura: 21] ﴿And He is capable of gathering them when He wills﴾ [Ash-Shura: 29] ﴿And you are not to frustrate [Allah] on earth﴾ [Ash-Shura: 31] ﴿And whoever Allah misguides, for him there is no guide﴾ [Ash-Shura: 46] ﴿Your duty is only to convey﴾ [Ash-Shura: 48] ﴿We guide thereby whom We will of Our servants﴾ [Ash-Shura: 52] So reflect on this and what is connected to it from what did not occur in the preceding surah except for the rare, and the firm of what it has drawn, and the structure of this surah is based on that and the focus of its verses insists on the connection of it with what preceded it and its joining with what is adjacent to it.

And when Surah As-Sajda concluded with His saying, the Exalted, ﴿Indeed, they are in doubt about the meeting with their Lord﴾ [Fussilat: 54], He followed it with His glorification and exaltation above their doubt and their suspicion, so He said, the Exalted, ﴿The heavens are almost torn apart from above them﴾ [Ash-Shura: 5] as He followed with something similar in His saying, the Exalted, ﴿And they said, 'The Most Merciful has taken a son'﴾ [Maryam: 88] ﴿You have certainly brought forth a terrible thing﴾ [Maryam: 89] ﴿The heavens are almost torn apart from him﴾ [Maryam: 90] And when it was repeated in Surah Ham As-Sajda, He mentioned the arrogance of the polytheists and their distance from submission in His saying, the Exalted, ﴿But most of them turned away﴾ [Fussilat: 4] ﴿And they said, 'Our hearts are within coverings'﴾ [Fussilat: 5] to what the Exalted mentioned of their state that indicates their distance from responding, so He said, the Exalted, in Surah Ash-Shura ﴿It has been great upon the polytheists what you call them to﴾ [Ash-Shura: 13] - ended.