His saying, exalted and majestic is He: "Say, who provides for you from the heaven and the earth? Or who owns hearing and sight? And who brings the living out of the dead and brings the dead out of the living? And who arranges the affair?" They will surely say, "Allah." So say, "Then will you not fear?" "So that is Allah, your Lord, the Truth. So what is after the truth except misguidance? So how are you turned away?" "Thus has the word of your Lord been justified against those who transgressed that they do not believe." This is a stopping point, a reprimand, and a proof that there is no escape from adhering to it. "From the heaven" means: the rain, and "and the earth" means: through growth and similar matters. And "who owns hearing and sight" is a term that encompasses all of mankind and most of them, to the extent that anything other than these two is secondary. And "who brings the living out of the dead" refers to the fetus from the sperm, the bird from the egg, and the plant from the earth, as it has a growth similar to life. And "and brings the dead out of the living" is like the egg from the bird and similar to that. The explanation of these meanings has been previously elaborated. And the arrangement of the affair is general for this and other things from all matters. That is the proper functioning of all affairs according to His will, exalted and majestic is He. And His arrangement is not through thought, deliberation, or changes; He is exalted above that. Rather, His knowledge is encompassing, complete, and everlasting. "They will surely say, 'Allah'"; there is no escape for them from that, nor can they boast of anything else. So when they acknowledge that, "Then say, 'Will you not fear?'" in your fabrication and making the idols gods. And His saying, exalted is He: "So that is Allah, your Lord"; the verse says: This one whose attributes are like this is your true Lord, meaning the one deserving of worship and divinity. And if that is the case, then associating others with Him is misguidance and not true. The wording of the Qur'an in presenting these meanings surpasses all interpretations in eloquence, brevity, and clarity. And this verse has ruled that there is no third position between truth and misguidance in this matter, which is the oneness of Allah. And likewise is the case in its counterparts, which are the fundamental issues where the truth in them is on one side. Because the discussion in them is about affirming the existence of a being as it is, and that is unlike the issues of branches, in which Allah has said: "For each of you We have made a law and a method" [Al-Ma'idah: 48]. And the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, said: "The lawful is clear and the unlawful is clear, and between them are ambiguous matters." And the truth in this is at both ends, as the worshippers only worshipped through effort, not through specification in every incident. And this indicates that the truth at both ends is the difference of laws in permitting and prohibiting in one matter. The discussion in the issues of branches is only about rulings that are incidental to the existence of a being that is established and not disputed. Rather, the dispute is in the rulings related to the legislator. And His saying: "So how are you turned away?" is an affirmation, as He said: "So where are you going?" [At-Takwir: 26]. Then He said, glorified is He: "Thus has it been justified"; that is, as the attributes of Allah are as He described, and His worship is obligatory as it has been established. And the turning away of these people is as He has decreed upon them and they have earned; thus it has been justified.

Ibn Kathir, Abu Amr, Asim, Hamzah, and Al-Kisai read here and at the end of the surah: 'word' in the singular, which is intended to mean the plural, just as it is said for a poem: 'a word.' So he expressed the warning of Allah, glorified and exalted is He, with His word. Nafi and Ibn Amir read in the two mentioned places: 'words,' and this is the reading of Abu Ja'far and Shaiba ibn Nasah. This verse is news that among the disbelievers are those who have been destined for disbelief and decreed for their eternal punishment. Ibn Abi Abla read: 'Indeed, they' with a broken alif.