His saying, exalted and majestic is He: "Say, 'Who protects you by night and by day from the Most Merciful?' But they are, from the remembrance of their Lord, turning away." "Or do they have gods that protect them besides Us? They are not able to help themselves, nor can they be supported by Us." "Rather, We have given enjoyment to these and their forefathers until life became prolonged for them. Do they not see that We come to the earth and reduce it from its edges? So are they the ones who will overcome?"

The meaning: Say, O Muhammad, to these disbelievers who mock you and what you have brought, the disbelievers in the remembrance of the Most Merciful, who are ignorant of Him: Say to them in a manner of reprimand and reproach: Who protects you? And "كَلَأ" means to protect. From it is the saying of the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, "Protect for us the dawn." And at the end of the speech, there is an implied meaning that is omitted, as if he said: They have no protector or guardian. And upon this meaning, "بَلْ" is constructed in His saying, glorified and exalted is He: "But they are, from the remembrance of their Lord, turning away." Then the statement confirms that there is no protector for them from Allah, as He has revealed the matter of their gods. The meaning is: They think that their gods, which have this attribute, protect them from Us. But no one protects them except Us. And His saying, exalted is He: "Nor can they be supported by Us" has two possible interpretations: One of them is that they are prevented from being helped, and the other is: Nor can they be supported by Us with good or blessing, and so on. And in the speech, there is an omitted meaning, as if he said: There is nothing of all this. Rather, these have gone astray because We have given them and their forefathers enjoyment, so they forgot the punishment of Allah and thought that their condition would not perish. The meaning is: Life became prolonged in ease.

Then He, exalted is He, stopped them at the places of lessons in the nations and in humanity according to differences and edges. And the "sight" in His saying, exalted is He: "Do they not see" is the sight of the eye followed by the sight of the heart. And "نَأْتِي" means: with power and might. And "the earth" is general in kind. And His saying, glorified is He: "from its edges" either means: in what is destroyed from the inhabited areas, which is part of the earth, or it means the death of humans, which is a reduction of the generations. And the intended meaning then would be the people of the earth. And some said: The reduction from the edges is the death of the scholars. Then He stopped them - in a manner of reproach - do they think they will overcome the One who has overcome all the people of the earth and subdued all with His authority and greatness? That is indeed a clear impossibility. Rather, they are overpowered and subdued.