And when He, glorified and exalted is He, affirmed that He is the One who created the heavens and the earth, in which there are idols, stars, and celestial bodies from which light and darkness come, His existence was established based on what He is upon of encompassing the attributes of perfection that praise has affirmed. Thus, all their doctrines were invalidated. He was astonished by them for their associating others with Him. Following this, He specified His creation of this human type, and with what is in it of evidence for Him, by specifying praise and responding to those who exaggerate regarding Jesus, blessings and peace be upon him, the created from clay by the creation of their father Adam, blessings and peace be upon him, confirming the invalidation of the doctrine of dualism. This is because they say: 'Fire is the creator of good, and darkness is the creator of evil.' So if it is established that He is the creator of the human beings from whom good and evil come from one thing, which is the clay from which the sperm was born, which He made into different organs in color, shape, and form, such as the heart and other simple organs like bones and cartilages, and ligaments and tendons, it is established that the creator of their attributes of good and evil is One, All-Powerful, All-Knowing. This is because the generation of different attributes from the similar material can only be by one Creator who is chosen, not two. He is the One who created the earth from which their origin comes, and He is Allah who is specified by praise. He said: 'He is the One who created you.' And when they distanced themselves from resurrection due to the transformation of the dead into dust and the mixing of the dust of all with one another and with the dust of the earth, it becomes difficult to distinguish. The distinction of clay, due to the intensity of the mixing of its parts with water, is harder than the distinction of dust. He said: 'From clay,' meaning: He distinguished the clay of each of you, although among you are the black and the white and others, and the strong and others, from the clay of the other after He made it thick water with the power of expulsion and grew it to wherever He willed of size.

And when it was known that whatever was of one thing, its duration of existence was one, he indicated with the tool of delay to the completeness of His power and choice from the difference between the appointed times. He said: ﴿Then He decreed﴾ meaning: He made a complete and decisive judgment and established ﴿an appointed time﴾ meaning: a specified time for the end of life and the cutting off of delay for each one of you, whether good or evil, strong or weak, from the appointed time that is delayed. He made those appointed times - while they are different - close together, with no superiority for any one of you in a characteristic over another in a differing characteristic. The doer of that can only be one, acting by choice. And when he mentioned the first appointed time, which is the creation from clay, indicating what branched from it of the differing appointed times, he mentioned the other appointed time that encompasses all; for the mention of the beginning necessitates the mention of the end. He said, indicating its greatness by the resumption and the indefinite article: ﴿And an appointed time﴾ meaning: a great ﴿appointed time﴾ meaning: for all of you for the end of the barrier for the resurrection, which is in the course of your customs easier than the beginning for your trials and the judgment between you, which is the place of His wisdom and the manifestation of His grace and His wrath at one time, in which all are equal. And He concealed its knowledge from all, as He indicated by the indefinite article. This cannot be correct except for one, not multiple; otherwise, the measures and intentions would differ, and every decree would split into a type that does not exceed it. Otherwise, some of them would rise over others, and the secrets of some would be violated by others - glorified and exalted is Allah above what they describe. And He changed the context to the nominal form, indicating His exclusivity with His knowledge and that it is established without doubt! This is confirmed by the affirmation of His saying: ﴿With Him﴾ in this sentence and its omission from the first here and in His saying: ﴿Then He will resurrect you therein to fulfill an appointed time﴾ [Al-An'am: 60]. He advanced the subject with its indefinite article - while the original is to delay it - to convey its greatness.

And when it was in this statement regarding His Oneness and the completeness of His power, especially concerning the resurrection, which is the intended purpose of His wisdom, there is no doubt about the resurrection - He indicated it with the tool of delay and the form of causation, saying: ﴿Then you will doubt﴾. That is: you burden yourselves with doubt about both His Oneness and the resurrection, which is easier for your customary practices than beginning with imitating the fathers and leaning towards mere desires and turning away from the evidences that are clearer than bright light. This verse is analogous to the verse in Surah Ar-Rum: ﴿Do they not reflect upon themselves﴾ [Ar-Rum: 8]. That is: how Allah created them from clay, and subjected some of them to others through oppression and aggression, and set for them appointed terms, causing a disparity between them and equating in this between the origin and the branch. This resulted in the fact that Allah did not create the heavens and the earth and what is between them except with truth, that is: for the establishment of justice in all that has occurred among you of differences, as is the case with every owner regarding his slaves. ﴿And an appointed term﴾ is the verse. Imam Abu Ja'far ibn Al-Zubair said: When He clarified - glorified and exalted is He - the state of those who preceded, which is the straight path, and made clear what shows caution from both sides of taking and leaving, and clarified the state of those who turned away from it among those who might have glimpsed it, namely the Jews and Christians, and their failure to adhere to it and their deviation from what He guided them to, and the matter of the two groups concluded with a condemnation of their state and a clarification of their refutation, warning the pious that they should not be afflicted with what afflicted them. He concluded that with a clarification of the state of the certain ones on the Day of Resurrection, when the truthfulness of the truthful will benefit them. And with that, the mention of the polytheists of the Arabs and their deafness to the caller and their blindness to the signs was included, so they were more like animals than humans. After that, He - glorified and exalted is He - indicated a group that inclined towards reflection and consideration, but they were not guided to the truth and fell short of being illuminated by the lights of guidance. They are not among those who return to a scripture that has been altered and changed, but they are in the form of those who intended to be guided by the guidance of nature and to derive evidence from what Allah - glorified and exalted is He - has spread in the creations, but they did not delve deeply into reflection and were not guided, thus they went astray. They are the Magians and the rest of the dualists whose ultimate matter is the attribution of action to light and darkness. There was no prior mention or news of their state, so He - glorified and exalted is He - said: ﴿All praise is due to Allah, who created the heavens and the earth and made darkness and light﴾ [Al-An'am: 1]. Thus, He began - glorified and exalted is He - with the mention of the creation of the heavens and the earth from which light and darkness came to exist, as darkness is the shadows of these celestial bodies, and light comes from luminous bodies contained within them [and they are the sun, moon, and stars]. The statement was: All praise is due to Allah, who clarified the matter for those who reflect and gain insight, so they know that the existence of light and darkness is contingent upon the causality that He - glorified and exalted is He - willed for the existence of the celestial bodies and the earth and what is contained within them. And with the clarification of the matter in that, those who were blind to insight turned away. ﴿Then those who disbelieved in their Lord will be equal﴾ [Al-An'am: 1]. And His saying - glorified and exalted is He: ﴿He is the One who created you from clay﴾ adds clarity to this meaning, for He - glorified and exalted is He - mentioned our origin and the material from which we were created, just as He mentioned for light and darkness what is like the material, which is the existence of the heavens and the earth. The term 'making' implies the dependence of existence upon the will regarding what has been mentioned. It has been said: What difference is there between the existence of light and darkness from the existence of the heavens and the earth and between your existence from clay until there is doubt about the attribution of creation to light and darkness, when they were not created except after a material or cause, just as occurred in your creation? The matter in that is clearer than anything. ﴿Then you will doubt﴾. Then the surah moved from its beginning to its end, alerting to the expanse of the indications in the existents while also indicating that this does not reach the fruition of its benefit except for those who are prepared according to what has preceded. So He - glorified and exalted is He - said: ﴿Indeed, only those who listen will respond﴾ [Al-An'am: 36]. Then He - glorified and exalted is He - said: ﴿And the dead Allah will resurrect them﴾ [Al-An'am: 36]. And Allah knows best, this is of the type of ﴿Or one who was dead and We gave him life﴾ [Al-An'am: 122]. It was summarized here and then explained later in the same surah. The intended meaning is that among the creation is one whom Allah made to hear, obey, be alert, and reflect at the first hint. And He showed the example - glorified and exalted is He - in that in the story of Ibrahim - peace be upon him - in His saying: ﴿And thus We showed Ibrahim the dominion of the heavens and the earth﴾ [Al-An'am: 75]. It is as if He is saying to His pious servants: Come, follow the path of consideration of your father Ibrahim, how he looked - peace be upon him - with the gaze of the alert listener! He did not turn in his first glance to what caused his existence to be evident, needing to have a purpose in the stars, the moon, and the sun, but rather he looked at that from which light emanated, not at the light itself. So when night covered him, he saw a star, and consider how he - peace be upon him - did not prolong his gaze by turning to the light. Then he would return to consider the body from which the light came, but when he saw the light from celestial bodies, he contemplated those bodies and what attributes they possessed. He saw the setting, rising, transition, and fluctuation, and said: This is not befitting of divinity, for these are attributes of change. Then he elevated his gaze to the moon and the sun and saw that this ruling was applicable to them, so he judged that there was a planner behind them who is exalted above transition, absence, and setting. He said: ﴿Indeed, I have turned my face toward the One who created the heavens and the earth﴾ [Al-An'am: 79]. He specifically mentioned these two for their carrying of luminous bodies and their causality in the existence of darkness. Then contemplate this perspective from him - peace be upon him - and how he specifically considered the noblest of existents and the highest of them. In this, there are two aspects of wisdom: one is the elevation of the gaze and the penetration of insight in considering the noblest, for when the matter is clear from it, it is clearer in what is other than it. So he combined between the closeness of attainment and the elevation of guidance. The second aspect is the correspondence between the state of the observer and the observed in it, and the attainment and following of the elevated nature, and it is of the kind of 'Our Prophet ﷺ taking milk when milk and wine were presented to him, and he chose milk, and it was said to him: You have chosen the fitrah.' It has been said: This perspective and consideration are of the important kind, not the perspective of one who is anchored to the earth, who aimed at light and darkness. It should be relied upon in the story of Ibrahim - peace be upon him - in this consideration that he - peace be upon him - in His saying: ﴿This is my Lord﴾ [Al-An'am: 76] intended to cut off the argument of whoever worshipped something from that, as it was the religion of his people. He laid out for them the consideration and indication and began to present what His status was too exalted to incline towards, just as the debater says to the one he is debating: Suppose that this is as you say.

He means by saying that he wants the submission of his opponent and to call him to consideration until he is not a contender against him regarding what he does not believe, so that he can build upon that his intended purpose to make his opponent retreat while he is certain of his matter. This is what should be relied upon here for the saying of Yusuf - blessings and peace be upon him - ﴿It is not for us to associate anything with Allah﴾ [Yusuf: 38]. For the protection has encompassed them from what the falsifiers imagine and what the slanderers attribute to them. And what supports what we have said is His saying, glorified and exalted is He: ﴿And that is Our proof which We gave to Ibrahim against his people﴾ [Al-An'am: 83]. This is the state of one whose rank is elevated among those who listen. Among the creation are those whom Allah has made to hear at the first moment, and this is a clear example of that. And among them are the dead, and the dead are of two types: some of them are removed from their ignorance and blindness, and some remain in their darkness as dead without movement. This is clarified by His saying, glorified and exalted is He: ﴿Or is one who was dead and We gave him life and made for him a light by which to walk among the people like one whose example is in darkness from which he cannot emerge﴾ [Al-An'am: 122]. And since the Surah contains aspects of consideration and motivates reflection, and announces from the totality of its verses that the one who considers and reflects - even if he is not alert at the first moment, nor hearing the first mover, nor responding to the first listener - his state may transition from his stagnation and heedlessness to the point where he hears and joins those who were alert at the first moment. It is appropriate that the indication in the heart of the Surah refers to two states: the state of those who hear at the first moment, and the state of those who hear in the second condition. It was said: ﴿Indeed, only those who listen will respond, and the dead will be raised by Allah﴾ [Al-An'am: 36]. And there is no indication here to the third category with knowledge of it, which is the one who remains in his stagnation and death from whom no admonisher, nor preacher, nor consideration has moved. And because this type, if mentioned here, would contain what would weaken the resolve of those whose determination has weakened, the state of his beginning returned, and it was said: ﴿And the dead will be raised by Allah﴾ [Al-An'am: 36]. And it was released for all to act upon this resurrection from ignorance and to awaken from the slumber of heedlessness, just as all were called to Allah with a single call, and it was said: ﴿O mankind, worship your Lord﴾ [Al-Baqarah: 21]. Then they differed in responding to the caller according to their precedents. Thus, the response to this ﴿And the dead will be raised by Allah﴾ [Al-An'am: 36] is a hearing for all, and in the form of equality is an appropriateness for the call so that the proof may be established against the servants. Until the evidences are expanded and the chests are opened to receive them, and the souls cling to what has been decreed, and the people of goodness are successful. Allah, glorified and exalted is He, said after the verse: ﴿Or is one who was dead and We gave him life and made for him a light by which to walk among the people﴾ [Al-An'am: 122]. And it was said to one who transitioned from the state of death and saw the extent of Allah's blessing upon him by giving him life: Does your bright state now - by what you have been granted when you reflected - resemble your lifeless state? So thank your Lord and humble yourself to Him in seeking increase, and take heed from the state of one who remained in his state of death, and the signs did not benefit him, and he is referred to by His saying: ﴿Like one whose example is in darkness from which he cannot emerge﴾ [Al-An'am: 122]. ﴿Indeed, We have placed over their hearts coverings so that they do not understand it﴾ [Al-Kahf: 57]. ﴿And if We had sent down to them the angels and the dead spoke to them and We gathered upon them everything in front of them, they would not have believed except that Allah wills﴾ [Al-An'am: 111].

﴿It is the same for them whether you warn them or do not warn them; they will not believe.﴾ [Al-Baqarah: 6] And it is as if the previous division that was heard for the first time was not meant to be mentioned here in terms of the intention to show its worthiness of this blessing and to save the one who possesses it from the confusion of doubt regarding its position in what preceded from His saying, ﴿Indeed, only those who listen will respond.﴾ [Al-An'am: 36] So he mentioned here what is occurring in showing the worth of the blessing of salvation and deliverance from the blindness of ignorance. This is the state of one who has transitioned by the grace of Allah and the state of one who has remained in his death. Or it could be that the two categories are encompassed by His saying, ﴿Or one who was dead and We gave him life.﴾ [Al-An'am: 122] As for the second, which is: the one in whom the form of transfer has been established, his matter is clear from the verse. As for the first category, which is the one who hears for the first time, the one who is safeguarded from the calamities of ignorance and doubts, his inclusion under the implication of this expression is such that his protection is not from him or from what preceded or was imposed upon him, but rather by the bestowal of mercy and the provision of blessing. If he had kept it to himself or entrusted it to himself, it would not have been like that. ﴿And whatever blessing you have, it is from Allah.﴾ [An-Nahl: 53] So from this perspective, the verse may have encompassed the three categories, and this is preferable. As for the exclusion of the third category from His saying, ﴿Indeed, only those who listen will respond.﴾ [Al-An'am: 36], it is due to what has preceded, and Allah knows best what He intended. And since this noble surah contains an elaboration of consideration and the presentation of perspectives, if the one who reflects upon it contemplates, he will know that the proof of Allah is established against the servants. And that sending the messengers is a mercy, a blessing, a favor, and a kindness. And if the indications are extensive and the existents are observable and clarifying, and the indications of perception from hearing, sight, and hearts are present, how can a rational person hesitate in the immense mercy of Him, the Exalted, by sending the messengers! Thus, the proof is confirmed and the arguments are supported. When the creation recognized the establishment of the proof against them through listening to the caller and reflecting upon the creation, He, the Exalted, said: ﴿Say, 'To Allah belongs the perfect proof.'﴾ [Al-An'am: 149] ﴿Indeed, there has come to you a clear proof from your Lord and guidance and mercy.﴾ [Al-An'am: 157] What is the excuse of the one who excuses himself after this? Do you want the veil to be lifted and to see the matter with your own eyes! If you had insight, you would have attained what you were granted.

﴿Are they waiting except for the angels to come to them or your Lord to come or some of the signs of your Lord to come?﴾ [Al-An'am: 158] Then the surah concluded with submission and entrustment, (p-18) with what is beneficial along with His saying: ﴿And if He had willed, He would have guided you all.﴾ [Al-An'am: 149] And from the four surahs, the explanation of the people of the straight path and their ranks in their conduct and what they should adhere to or abandon has been established, as well as the state of those who deviate from its path among the Jews, Christians, idol worshippers, and Magians. The end.