His saying, exalted and glorified is He: "To Him belongs the call of truth, and those whom they call upon besides Him do not respond to them with anything except like one who stretches his two hands toward water to reach his mouth, but he will never reach it. And the call of the disbelievers is nothing but in error." "And to Allah prostrates whoever is in the heavens and the earth willingly and unwillingly, and their shadows in the mornings and the evenings." "Say, who is the Lord of the heavens and the earth? Say, Allah. Say, have you taken besides Him allies who do not possess for themselves any benefit or harm? Say, are the blind and the seeing equal? Or are the darknesses and the light equal? Or have they made for Allah partners who created like His creation so that the creation became indistinguishable to them? Say, Allah is the Creator of all things, and He is the One, the Subduer." The pronoun in "To Him" refers back to the name of Allah, blessed and exalted is He. Ibn Abbas said: "The call of truth is 'There is no deity except Allah.'" And what was from the Shari'ah in its meaning. Ali ibn Abi Talib, may Allah be pleased with him, said: "It is the Oneness (Tawhid)." It is correct that its meaning can be: "To Him belongs the call of the servants with truth, and the calling upon others besides Him from the idols is false." And His saying: "And those who" refers to what is worshipped besides Allah. The pronoun in "they call upon" refers to the disbelievers of Quraysh and others among the Arabs. Yazid ibn Abi Amr al-'Alai reported: "They call upon besides Him" with a 'taa' from above, and "they do not respond" means they do not answer. And from it is the saying of the poet: 'And a caller called, O You who answers to the call, but there was no responder at that time.' And the meaning of the words is: "And those whom the disbelievers call upon in their needs and benefits do not respond with anything." Then He, exalted is He, likened their responses to one who stretches his hands toward water and points to it in an attempt to reach it with his mouth, but he will never reach his mouth in that state. Likewise, the response of these (idols) and benefiting from them does not occur. And His saying: "He" refers to the water, which is the one that is reached, and the pronoun in "reaching it" refers to the mouth. It is also correct that "He" refers to the mouth, which is also the one that is reached, and the pronoun in "reaching it" refers to the water, because the mouth will never reach the water in that state. Then He informed that the call of the disbelievers is in error, which does not benefit in anything and does not avail.

And His saying, exalted is He: ﴿And to Allah prostrates﴾. The apparent meaning of these words suggests that it is a reminder of Allah's power and the subjugation of things to Him only. It may also imply a reproach against the disbelievers of Quraysh and the contemporaries of Muhammad, blessings and peace be upon him. That is, if you do not believe and do not prostrate, then all who are in the heavens and the earth prostrate to Allah, exalted is He. To this possibility, al-Tabari inclined. And 'who' refers generally to the angels, and their prostration is voluntary without dispute. As for the people of the earth, the believers among them are included in 'who,' and their prostration is voluntary. As for the prostration of the disbelievers, it is out of compulsion, and this is in two ways. If we consider the prostration in this customary form, then the intended meaning regarding the disbelievers is those whom the sword compels to Islam - as Qatadah said - so they prostrate out of compulsion, either hypocritically or the compulsion is their initial state, and the attribute continues upon them even if their faith is valid afterward. If we consider prostration as submission and humility according to its linguistic meaning, as the poet said:

.............................. ∗∗∗ You see the hill prostrating to the hooves.

Then all the disbelievers would fall under 'who,' for there is no disbeliever except that he is subjected to some form of humility and submission to Allah's power, more than can be counted according to His blessings and considerations. Al-Nahhas and al-Zajjaj said that compulsion may occur in the prostration of the sinful Muslims and the lazy among them.

Qadi Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said:

And although the wording implies this, it is uneasy regarding the intended meaning of the verse.

And His saying, exalted is He: ﴿And their shadows in the morning and the evening﴾ is an indication that 'the shadows' have prostration to Allah, exalted is He, in the mornings and evenings. Al-Tabari said: This is like His saying, exalted is He: ﴿Do they not see what Allah has created of anything whose shadows incline to the right and to the left, prostrating to Allah?﴾ [An-Nahl: 48]. He said: And that is its inclination in the evening. Mujahid said: 'The shadow of the disbeliever prostrates voluntarily while he is unwilling.' Ibn Abbas said: 'The shadow of the disbeliever prostrates when it inclines to his right and left.' Al-Zajjaj reported that some people said that 'the shadows' here refers to people, but Abu Ishaq weakened this. And 'the evenings' is the plural of 'asil,' and Abu Mijlaz read: 'and the evenings.' Abu al-Fath said: It is the source of 'asalna,' meaning: we entered into the evening, like 'we became' and 'we entered the evening.' It has been narrated that when the disbeliever prostrates to his idol, his shadow prostrates to Allah, exalted is He, at that time.

And His saying, exalted is He: "Say, Who is the Lord of the heavens and the earth?" The question and the answer in this verse come from one side. The question and the clarification are about a matter that is clear, with no one able to dispute it, and it is obligatory to adhere to the proof. Thus, the precedence to the answer is more eloquent in argumentation and quicker in cutting them off than waiting for their response, as there is no answer except this one to which they hastened. And Makkī said: They were ignorant of the answer and sought it from the questioner, so the questioner informed them of it. When it became clear from all of this that Allah, exalted is He, is the Lord of the heavens and the earth, the reprimand fell upon their taking allies besides Him, who are characterized by the fact that they do not benefit themselves nor harm themselves. This is the utmost incapacity. And within this speech is: "And you have left Him, and He is the One in whose Hand is the dominion of all things." And the phrase: "besides Him" necessitates that.

Then He likened the disbelievers and the believers - after this - by His saying: "Say, Are the blind and the seeing equal?" Ibn Kathīr, Nafi', Abu 'Amr, Ibn 'Āmir, and Hafs from 'Āsim read: "The darknesses are equal" with a tā' (ت), while Hamzah, al-Kisā'ī, and Abu Bakr from 'Āsim read: "Are equal" with a yā' (ي). The feminine form is better because it is feminine and is not separated from its governing word by anything. The masculine form is common because it is a non-real feminine and the verb is advanced. This verse likens the disbeliever to the blind and disbelief to the darknesses, and it likens the believer to the seeing and faith to the light. Then He paused them afterwards, asking if they saw a creation other than Allah, which led them, along with their confusion with what Allah created, to make a god other than Allah. Then He commanded Muhammad, blessings and peace be upon him, to declare the attributes of Allah, exalted is He, in that He is the Creator of all things. This is general in wording, intended for the specifics in all that is the creation of Allah, exalted is He, and the attributes of His essence are excluded, for there is no Lord other than Him. The Qur'an describes Him with uniqueness in that there is nothing that exists except through Him, and in His existence, He is self-sufficient from the existents. There is no god except Him, the Most High, the Most Great.