'In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful'

Surah Al-An'am

Its purpose is to provide evidence for what the Book called to in the previous Surah regarding Tawhid, which encompasses all perfections of existence and non-existence, the ability to resurrect, and others. The most relevant of the mentioned matters in it to this purpose is the livestock; for the permission regarding them - as will come - is a result of what has been established for Him from the distinction and uniqueness in creation. The remaining mention of them includes the refutation of what they have taken regarding them as a religion; for He did not permit it nor did He permit anyone with Him; for He is the One who is unique in divinity, with no partner to Him. And the restriction of the prohibitions from the foods, most of which are in this religion and others, indicates the comprehensiveness of His knowledge. And it will come in Surah (Ta-Ha) the clear proof that the comprehensiveness of knowledge is necessary for the completeness of power and other perfections. This is the very purpose of the Surah, and it has been reported through several channels, as I have explained in my book: (Masa'id al-Nazar).

It has been reported that it was revealed all at once, accompanied by seventy thousand angels, who were glorifying Allah. In one narration, it is said that its revelation was at night, and that the earth trembled for its descent. It is all about the arguments against the polytheists and others from the innovators, the Qadariyyah, and the people of the deviant sects. It is based on the foundations of the religion; for it includes Tawhid, justice, prophethood, resurrection, and the refutation of the doctrines of the atheists. Its revelation in the mentioned manner indicates that the foundations of the religion are of the utmost grandeur, and that learning it is an immediate obligation due to its revelation all at once, unlike the rulings which are differentiated according to interests. And its revelation at night is a sign of the utmost blessing, for it is the time of closeness due to His descent to the lowest heaven. And this knowledge does not stop at its secrets except for the insightful, awake ones from the slumber of heedlessness, those of understanding, the people of solitude, and the souls that dominate the bodies, and they are few.

'In the name of Allah' who has clarified the signs of His Oneness by being the gatherer of the attributes of perfection. 'The Most Gracious' who has bestowed upon all existing things from His mercy through existence and non-existence, which has bewildered minds due to its universality, so that imaginations have been constricted by it. 'The Most Merciful' who has granted the people of faith the light of insight until existence speaks for them, informing them that He is the Ever-Living, the Sustainer, the Source of Peace.

﴿All praise﴾ means: the encompassing of the attributes of perfection ﴿is for Allah﴾.

When He concluded - glorified is He - that with the praise of Jesus - peace be upon him - for His majesty on that day in that gathering, then the praise of His sanctified self with the comprehensiveness of dominion and power; for praise is the description of the beautiful. He - glorified and exalted is He - began this surah by informing that such praise and other forms of praise are due to Him with a permanent and established right, before the creation of beings and after their creation, whether the servants thank Him or deny Him; for He - glorified and exalted is He - has attributes of majesty and perfection, as has been previously indicated in Al-Fatiha. So He presented this nominal sentence that opens with the name of the all-encompassing praise that includes all types indicative of comprehensiveness, either because the 'lam' is for Him according to the majority, or because it is for the genus, as is the opinion of Al-Zamakhshari, and it is interpreted according to the opinion of the majority. For the genus, if it is specific to Him, no individual from it can be for others; for the genus does not exist except within its individuals. So whenever an individual from it exists for others, the genus exists within it, and thus the genus is not specific to Him. And we have said: it is specific. This praise has become, by its description, an individual from the individuals of the praise of Al-Fatiha, realizing its status as the mother. And He - glorified is He - followed it with the evidential proof of what He concluded with that description of the comprehensiveness of power by His saying: 'The One Who Created.'

And when the multiplicity of the heavens is apparent by the stars in their movement and their motions in speed and slowness, and the concealment of some of them by others during eclipses and otherwise, and other matters that are clarified among its people: He gathered them and said: 'the heavens,' meaning: in their height and precision. He preceded it; for what has been mentioned recently. 'And the earth,' meaning: in its adornment with benefits and its organization.

And when there is in the making a meaning of inclusion, the made cannot stand by itself. He said: ﴿And He made﴾ meaning: He created and initiated for your benefits ﴿the darknesses﴾ meaning: the dense masses - as has been mentioned - ﴿and the light﴾. He gathered the first to indicate that the paths of evil and destruction are many, revolving around desires. This has been established by what He began the chapter with; for the one who is unique in the creation of things is the one who is exclusively deserving of all praises. And whoever is exclusive in all praises cannot be a god besides Him, nor does He have a partner, neither a second of two nor a third of three nor anyone else. How excellent is its conclusion - after the reference to these objectives that distance one from disbelief or equate anything with Him - with His saying: ﴿Then those who disbelieved﴾ meaning: they concealed what their minds indicated to them of the evidence of His oneness, which is not hidden from anyone who has stripped himself of desires and treated his ailments with the most beneficial medicine, for He encompasses all attributes of perfection. The matter is made even more repugnant to them by substituting what was originally in the speech from the pronoun with His saying: ﴿Their Lord﴾ meaning: the one who has done good to them, from whom they have not seen any goodness except from Him. ﴿They equate﴾ meaning: they make others, who cannot do anything, equivalent to Him, while they know that He is the one who created things. This is disbelief in His grace and distance from His mercy. Some of them equate Him with some of the jewels of His creation from the heavens, like the stars, or from the earth, like the idols, or some of what arises from some of His creation from the attributes, which He created, like light and darkness. The fact is that the fluctuations of both of them indicate - with the slightest consideration - two matters: the first is their distance from being suitable for divinity due to their changeability, as He said: ﴿I do not love those that set﴾ [Al-An'am: 76]. The second is the power of their Creator and changer over the resurrection to bring each of them into existence after their annihilation, as is the case with resurrection - and other secrets that are beyond thoughts. The precedence of darkness is appropriate for the context of the just, and the expression of 'then' is to indicate what should be for every narrator of this character to distance himself from disbelief due to its distance from correctness. It has become clear that the aim of the chapter is to provide evidence for what the Book has called for, which has been clarified to be guidance from the oneness of Allah and gathering upon Him and fulfilling His covenants, for He - glorified and exalted is He - alone is the Creator who possesses all perfections, including the power over resurrection and others. How appropriate is this with the conclusion of Al-Ma'idah by mentioning the Day of Gathering and that to its King belongs all sovereignty, and He is capable of all things. This chapter is the first of the four chapters that refer to all the blessings included under the four blessings mentioned in Al-Fatihah, and each chapter of them refers to a blessing from the four blessings. His saying: ﴿He created the heavens and the earth﴾ is the verse, then ﴿He created you from clay﴾ [Al-An'am: 2], then ﴿And there is no creature on the earth﴾ [Al-An'am: 38] is a verse that details the blessing of the first creation for all the worlds from the heavens and the earth and what is between them and what is in them from humans and others, which is referred to in Al-Fatihah by the Lord of the worlds - as has been mentioned.

And when the previous chapters took on the task of responding to the polytheists of the Arabs, the Jews, and the Christians, along with the indication of nullifying all types of polytheism, the intended purpose of this chapter was directed towards responding to the remaining sects. They are the dualists among the Magians, who claim there are two gods and two origins: light and darkness. They only acknowledge the prophethood of Ibrahim - blessings and peace be upon him - and the Sabians who believe in heavenly idols and earthly statues, mediating to the Lord of lords, and they deny the message in human form. And the followers of spiritualism, meaning those who govern the stars and celestial bodies, claim to belong to the religion of Ibrahim - peace be upon him - and assert that he is one of them - and Allah has protected him from that. And the Samanis who claim the divinity of the sun, while emphasizing the response to the preceding sects, that all their sects agree on considering the stars. This becomes clear to anyone who examines the books of the conquests of the lands of the Persians during the days of Abu Bakr and Umar - may Allah be pleased with them both. And Tenkulusha the Babylonian said in the beginning of his book (p-7) on the rulings of the celestial degrees: Indeed, the ancients among the Chaldeans derived the mysteries of the secrets of the heavens. They had the most profound knowledge and did not reveal the science of the heavens to all people; rather, they concealed most of it from the general public, giving them only as much as would suffice, while discussing the rest among themselves, hidden among their scholars and sages. Then he mentioned their division of the degrees of the heavens into three hundred and sixty. Then he said: And they divided the degrees into many categories until they said: Some of them are male and some are female, some are beneficial and some are harmful. Then he said: All of that they intended in it was to indicate what it signifies in our world and concerning our conditions, until they made for each degree a world and a creation unique to its duration, and that world and creation would fade away and others would arise after them - to other statements that pertain to the belief in the influence of the stars by themselves - glorified is Allah above having a partner or anyone equal to Him.