And when it was that no one knows the unseen except by its manifestation in the realm of the witnessed, and it is for the first one who witnesses it a nobility that should be recognized for him, He said: "Except for him who is accepted." This means that Allah, the Exalted, has acted in His creation to accept the deeds of one who intends that and strives in it. And He clarified "from" by His saying: "from a Messenger," meaning from the angels and from people. For indeed, He manifests to him that accepted one who is described, not every accepted one, by manifesting to him whatever He wills of it. This is because the unseen is a category that cannot be realized except within its individuals. So when an individual from it appears, the category has appeared due to the appearance of a portion of it. Sometimes that Messenger may be an angel, and sometimes he may be a human whom Allah speaks to without an intermediary, like Moses, blessings and peace be upon him, during the days of conversing, and Muhammad, blessings and peace be upon him, on the night of the Ascension in the highest realm in the presence of two bows' length or closer. And when the Messenger appears to him, he exits from his state of being unseen, and the Messenger conveys to him what he has been permitted to convey to him, sometimes by revelation to the Prophets and sometimes by inspiration and intuition to the Saints. This occurs when their souls are prepared by calming their faculties from the disputes of reason with desires and worldly gains, just as it is for souls in general when the faculties are calm from the disputes of sleep, so they become prepared for the inspiration within them. So whoever turns away from the side of the senses and turns towards the side of holiness has prepared himself for the inspiration of the King in his piety with knowledge of what he did not know. And there is no one among people except that he knows from himself that when he turns completely to something, he is suddenly informed about it with intuitive and inspired matters without prior thought or seeking. And according to the extent of the preparation, the inspiration will be from Allah, glorified and exalted is He. And perhaps the inspiration may be satanic based on what the devils have received from eavesdropping from the angels, either from the earth after their descent or from the sky by eavesdropping therein - and Allah knows best. And it is permissible for the Saints to have direct communication from the King, as was the case for Mary, peace be upon her, from the angels. And Gabriel, blessings and peace be upon him, said about some of them that if he were to greet, he would respond to him. And when this context indicates the honor of the knowledge of the unseen, its honor is a reason for the guarding of whoever witnesses it to convey it to whom He commanded with it, just as He commanded with it. Allah, glorified and exalted is He, has made this known by His saying, confirming its distinction from the knowledge of the soothsayers, which originates from the jinn, indicating the reverence for the Messengers and their greatness and respect: "For indeed, Allah, glorified and exalted is He, manifests that Messenger upon what He wills of the unseen."

And that is because when he intends to manifest it, he means by saying: "He enters like the entering of a thread into a jewel in its composition and penetration without the slightest deviation to other than what is intended." And since the purpose is achieved by whom He, glorified and exalted is He, establishes from His soldiers for guarding, even if it is one from every direction, and even without that. He made this extraction for the matter according to what the servants are accustomed to. He expressed it with the preposition as a sign of the non-exhaustiveness of the observation of the directions to the end of the earth, for example. He said: "From before him" to the direction that that Messenger knows, and "and from behind him," meaning the direction that is hidden from his knowledge. Thus, that became sufficient for every direction. And it is possible that mentioning the two directions indicates the whole, and He specified them because whenever one of them is exposed, the enemy comes from it, and whenever it is protected, he does not come from other than it. For he becomes between the first and the last, a guard, meaning a protection from His soldiers who guard him and protect him by preserving what is with him of the unseen from the stealing of the devils or others, so that they do not take anything from his news. This was said by Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him, and Muqatil and others, may Allah be pleased with them, said: They inform him of whom he denies, so that they warn him against him if he is a devil, or they command him to listen to him if he is an angel. This is because Iblis used to come to the Prophets in the form of Gabriel, peace be upon him, but Allah protected them from him.