And when their saying included the affirmation of greatness for themselves by opposing the king, he said, denying them and reproaching them with what we mean by saying that the matter is not returned to them nor is it dependent upon them, but it is solely to Allah. "Allah knows best where He places His message" [Al-An'am: 124]. "Are they" meaning these ignorant and incapable ones, "dividing" meaning continuously and persistently. And he shifted the saying from the singular pronoun to the attribute of mercy attributed to the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, as an honor for him and to show the high status of him: "the mercy of your Lord" meaning the honoring of the benefactor towards you and His bestowal upon you, and His honoring you with various kindnesses and good deeds, and His magnifying you for what He has raised you for, by specifying you with the sending to them, by preparing them for rescue from misguidance. And He made you, while you are the best of the worlds, the messenger to them, so they were favored by your virtue, even though you are the most noble of them in lineage, the best of them in status, the greatest of them in intellect, the purest of them in understanding, and the most merciful of them in heart, so that they may act in that mercy which is the spirit of existence and the secret of the matter according to their desires, while they are unable to act in the transient possessions in like manner.

And when he denied that they have anything of the division, he replied to one who seemed to say: "Then who is the divider?" indicating their distance from having anything of the division of what has been prepared for their religions by what they observe from their distance from the division of what has been prepared for their bodies, shifting the saying from the attribute of kindness to the manifestation of greatness, indicating that it refuses to share in anything and necessitates uniqueness: "We have divided" meaning by what the greatness has bestowed "between them" meaning in the matter that encompasses them and necessitates the specification of each of them with what they have, "their livelihood" which they consider a mercy and restrict the blessing to it, "in the worldly life" which is the least of things in our view. And he indicated that it is a deficient life that no sane person would accept. As for the Hereafter, he expressed it as life, because if we left the division of it to them, they would cooperate on that, and there would remain none of them. So how could it enter into the imagination that He would assign to them anything of the words regarding prophethood, which is the spirit of existence, and by which is the happiness of the two abodes: "And We raised" by what we have of authority over the matter "some of them" even if he is weak in body and little in intellect "above others" even if he is strong and mighty in intellect "in degrees" in honor and wealth and authority and great status, to await the state of existence. For there must be in its organization a sharing of the existents and their cooperation. We differ among them in bodies and strengths and ambitions so that they may share in crafts, knowledge, and goods, and each one is facilitated for what he was created for, and inclined towards what is for him to engage in. So no one from the lowly or the wealthy could exceed his measure and rise above his status.

And when he mentioned that, he explained it by what the cultivation of the land yields. He said: "So that some of them may take from others." When the intended meaning here is usage without mockery, as it is not appropriate for the explanation, all the readers agreed on including this letter here. He said: "As a service," meaning that he should use it for what is necessary for him or what is difficult or impossible for him to directly engage in. He takes from the other person of the wealth that he is in need of. This is with his wealth, and this is with his works. The poor may be more complete than the rich, so that the order of the world may be completed. For if the measures were equal, livelihoods would be disrupted. No one could detach from what We have made for him of this lowly matter. So how can they aspire to interfere in the matter of prophethood? Does a rational person imagine that he would take charge of the deficient and leave the exalted to others? Ibn al-Jawzi said: If the provisions are by the decree of Allah and not by the efforts of the schemer, and they are less than prophethood, then how can prophethood be? - This is the end. And this is what is meant by His saying, exalted is He, diverting the speech from the manifestation of greatness and authority to the description of kindness, showing the honor of the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him. "And the mercy of your Lord," meaning the one who nurtures you and manages your affairs by sending you and illuminating existence with your message, which is worthy of being attributed to Him due to its greatness, and no one else is called a mercy. "Better than what they gather" from the perishable rubbish. For indeed, even if there is good in it by using it in acts of charity, with its condition, this is in relation to prophethood. And what we have compared to what calls for turning away from the world is fading.