Commentary
And when the Forbearing may be accused in his forbearance of being attributed to ignorance of sin or its magnitude, he said: "The Knower of the Unseen" and this includes what is hidden from all of creation. It encompasses what is within the heart of what the innate disposition prefers, and there is no knowledge for the owner of the heart regarding it, let alone for others. And when it may be thought that knowledge of what is hidden does not necessitate knowledge of what is witnessed, or that knowledge only pertains to universals, he clarified that his knowledge of the worlds includes both the universals and the particulars, before and after existence, equally: "And the testimony" which is everything that has appeared so that it is known by creation. This description calls for goodness in that it necessitates for the believer to abandon the apparent name and its hidden aspects, and every shortcoming, negligence, and carelessness, so that he worships Allah as if he sees Him.
And when this encompasses all that is hidden from creation and what is not hidden from them, there remains only the assumption that the delay of punishment is due to inability. He said: "The Mighty" meaning the One who overcomes everything and nothing overcomes Him. And when this may be for another matter that is not praiseworthy, he said: "The Wise" meaning that He has delayed it only for a profound wisdom that creation is incapable of comprehending. He has established creation in His obedience by causing them to act under His will. At times, this aligns with His command and is called obedience. At other times, it contradicts and is called disobedience. So whoever desires, He completes His favor upon him by granting success in obedience in accordance with His command, by encompassing His knowledge and precision in planning with His profound wisdom, and maintaining that and protecting it from every calamity with His overwhelming might. And whoever desires to prevent him from that, also, and everything is glorification for Him, glorified and exalted is He, indicating that He is the One, the Subduer. And He has encompassed the beginning of the Friday with this surah, its beginning and its end. Thus, this has come as an explanation for it and revealing it in a more magnificent manner because the aim of this is the result of the aim of that. And it has returned—by being free from the blemishes of deficiency and exclusivity—with all attributes of perfection and the comprehensiveness of ability for the truth and the encompassing knowledge of the conditions of the disbeliever and the believer—to the beauty of its conclusion at its opening. And He has known with evident knowledge the majesty of its arrangement, and the originality of the coherence of all its verses, and the excellence of their coming together—and Allah is the Grantor of success to what is correct.
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