'In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful' His saying, exalted and glorified is He: ﴿O mankind, worship your Lord who created you and those before you so that you may become righteous﴾ ﴿Who made for you the earth a bed and the heaven a canopy, and He sent down from the heaven water, and brought forth thereby fruits as provision for you, so do not set up equals to Allah while you know [that there is nothing similar to Him]﴾. "O" is a particle of address, and it contains a notification. "Ay" is the one being addressed. Abu Ali said: "Ay" was brought after the particle of address in that which has the definite article because the particle of address indicates definiteness, so there were two definitenesses combined. And "ha" is a notification and a reference to the intended meaning, and it is like "dha" in the singular. And "mankind" is an essential descriptor for "Ay." Mujahid said: "O mankind" occurs in the Quran in Meccan contexts, while (O you who have believed) is Medinan. The judge Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said: It has been established at the beginning of the surah that all of it is Medinan, and it is possible for "O mankind" to appear in the Medinan context, and as for His saying in (O you who have believed), it is correct. And His saying, exalted and glorified is He: ﴿Worship your Lord﴾ means: affirm His oneness and dedicate worship to Him. He mentioned His creation of them among all His other attributes, as the Arabs acknowledged that Allah created them, so He mentioned that as a proof against them. And "so that" in this verse, many of the interpreters said: it means the obligation of righteousness, and it is not from Allah, exalted and glorified is He, in the sense of hoping and expecting. Sibawayh and the leaders of language said: it is in its original meaning, and hoping and expecting are only in the realm of humans. That is, if you reflect on your condition with the worship of your Lord, you hope for yourselves righteousness, and "so that you may" is related to His saying: ﴿Worship your Lord﴾, and its relation is directed towards your creation, meaning that when every newborn is born upon the fitrah, if he reflects upon it, he expects and hopes that he will be righteous. And "you may become righteous" is derived from protection, and its origin is "tutqayun," the movement of the ya was transferred to the qaf (p-١٤٤) and it was omitted for the sake of meeting with the silent waw, and the first waw was assimilated into the ta. And His saying, exalted and glorified is He: ﴿Who made﴾ is in the accusative case following the preceding "who," and it is correct for it to be in the nominative case in isolation. What Makki mentioned: of implying, I mean, or a direct object of "you may become righteous" is weak. And "made" means rendered in this verse, for it takes two objects. And "a bed" means: you spread it out and settle upon it, and what is in the earth that is not a bed, like mountains and seas, is among the benefits of what can be spread upon, for the mountains are like pegs, and the seas are traversed for their other benefits. And "the heaven" is said to be a singular noun, its plural is "samaawat," and it is said to be a plural with one of its forms being "samaawah." And everything that rises above you in the air is "heaven," and the air itself in its elevation is called "heaven," and from it is the hadith: "Allah created Adam, his height in the heaven was sixty cubits." The term is derived from elevation and its derivatives.

And His saying, exalted is He: "Building" is a comparison to what is understood, as He, exalted is He, said: "And the heaven We constructed with strength, and indeed, We are [its] expander" [Adh-Dhariyat: 47]. And some of the Companions said: He built it upon the earth like a dome.

And His saying: "And He sent down from the heaven" means the clouds. It was named so by analogy to what is adjacent to the heaven and close to it. They have also called rain 'heaven' due to its proximity. From this is the saying of the poet:

If the heaven descends upon the land of a people, we will tend to it, even if they are harsh.

So it is also permissible in "we will tend to it." Thus, with the abundance of rain, He made the heaven grass. The root of "water" is 'mawah' which indicates that their saying in the plural is: "miyah" and "amwah," and in the diminutive: "muwayh." The name of sustenance has been applied to what comes out of fruits before ownership, meaning it is prepared to be beneficial, so it is sustenance. This verse refutes the saying of some people of the Mu'tazilah: that sustenance is what can be owned, and that what is forbidden is not sustenance.

And the singular of 'andad' is 'nid.' It is the counterpart and the similar, whether as an example, opposition, or contradiction. In terms of opposing and resembling, there has certainly been some similarity. Abu Ubaidah, Ma'mar, and Al-Mufaddal said: the opposite is 'nid.' This specification from them is an illustration, not an exhaustive list.

The interpreters have differed: who is being addressed in this verse? A group of the interpreters said: the address is to all the polytheists. His saying in this context: "And you know" refers to the specific knowledge that He, exalted is He, created and sent down the water, and brought forth sustenance. The verse did not deny ignorance from the disbelievers. It was said: the intended meaning is the disbelievers of the Children of Israel, so the meaning is: you know from the books that are with you that Allah has no counterpart. And Ibn Furak said: it is possible that the verse addresses the believers, meaning do not turn back, O believers, and make for Allah equals after your knowledge, which is the negation of ignorance that Allah is One.

And this verse indicates that Allah, exalted is He, has enriched man with His blessings from every creature. Whoever makes himself in need of a human being like himself due to greed, hope, and desire for the adornment of this world, has taken the paths of one who has made for Allah a counterpart. May Allah, exalted is He, protect us by His grace, and limit our hopes to Him by His favor and generosity; there is no Lord other than Him.