And when He informed of the completeness of the ability, He indicated that by His saying: ﴿He﴾ meaning alone ﴿the First﴾ meaning with the eternal existence before everything, so there is no first for Him, and the ancient from which the existence of everything comes, and His existence is not from anything, because everything we observe is affected since it is insignificant. Everything that is like that must have a cause that is not affected. ﴿And the Last﴾ with the everlasting existence, to which the existence of everything ends in the chain of progression, and He is after the annihilation of everything, even by considering what is from His essence, so there is no end for Him because it is impossible for Him to have the attribute of non-existence since everything besides Him is changeable. Everything that changes in some way can be annihilated, and what can be annihilated must have an annihilator that comes after it, and it is impossible for Him to be annihilated.

And when precedence necessitates the depths, and delay necessitates the appearances, and they are two opposing matters that a person can hardly be independent in their relation to one thing, He alerted to their gathering in it. He said, indicating with the conjunction to the completeness of the attribute and its realization: ﴿And the Manifest﴾ meaning with the uniqueness for the intellect with its apparent proofs in the creations by what it has of actions manifestly that no rational being is unaware of, and it is predominant in its elevation and superiority, so there is nothing above it. ﴿And the Hidden﴾ with the self-sufficiency and from the impression of the senses and the formation of imagination and the conception of understanding and thought, and with the completeness of knowledge and wisdom by what it has of greatness in itself with the abundance of exaltation and veils, depths that nothing can encompass. Al-Qushayri said: The First without beginning, the Last without end. The Manifest without concealment, [the Hidden] with the attribute of sublimity and the glory of greatness - it has ended. The conjunction indicates the completeness as it has been indicated regarding the complete encompassing, for when they were opposing, it was such that if they were stripped of the conjunction, it might be thought that their existence is not in the manner of being comprehensive, so it would not be encompassing but rather restricted in a manner, for example. Thus, the conjunction came as an indication of the realization of the description and its encompassing, and that it exists in every regard, not one of the attributes completing another or explaining its meaning. So, He is the First absolutely and the Last likewise, and the Manifest even in the state of His depths and the Hidden likewise. This is based on the original, for His attributes, glorified and exalted is He, are encompassing, so there is no difficulty. The difficulty is when there is a lack of conjunction, for it is the most common in its mention as in the end of Al-Hashr. Perhaps this is what the commentator intended by saying: [Indeed] the first conjunction means the indication of the gathering between the first and last attributes, meaning that He is in the utmost capability. The third is that He is the gatherer between the manifest and the hidden, and as for the middle one, it is that He is the gatherer between the totality of the first two attributes and the totality of the last two attributes, for He is the continuous existence in all past and future times. It has ended.

And when it is known that whoever manifests for something conceals from another, and whoever conceals for something is absent from it in knowledge, and that He, glorified and exalted is He, in His manifestation over that means that there is nothing above Him, and in His concealment in which there is nothing below Him, then the attributes have gathered the encompassing of knowledge and power. He made known the result of that and said: ﴿And He is All-Knowing of everything﴾, meaning that the things are equal in His sight. The concealments and manifestations are only in relation to creation. As for Him, glorified and exalted is He, there is no hidden aspect of creation with Him; rather, He is in the utmost manifestation to Him because He is the One who brought them into existence. This is the meaning of what Al-Baghawi, may Allah have mercy on him, said: Umar, may Allah be pleased with him, asked Ka'b about this verse, and he said: Its meaning is that His knowledge of the first is like His knowledge of the last, and His knowledge of the apparent is like His knowledge of the hidden - this is the end. Because knowledge necessitates power according to its measure.