His saying, exalted and majestic is He: ﴿He arranges the matter from the heaven to the earth, then it ascends to Him in a Day the measure of which is a thousand years of what you count.﴾ The term ﴿ 'the matter' ﴾ is a generic name for all matters. The meaning is that Allah, exalted and majestic is He, executes His decree with all that He wills, then the news of that returns to Him on a Day of the days of this world, the measure of which - even if one were to walk in it at the known pace of humans - is a thousand years. This is because what is between the heaven and the earth is five hundred years. This is one of the sayings, and it is the saying of Mujahid, Ibn Abbas, Qatadah, Ikrimah, and Al-Dhahhak. Mujahid also said that the meaning is that the pronoun in ﴿ 'its measure' ﴾ refers back to the arranging, meaning: as if the measure of the arranging that is completed on the Day of Resurrection is a thousand years if it were arranged by humans. Mujahid also said that the meaning is that Allah, exalted and majestic is He, arranges and conveys to the angels matters of a thousand years from our counting, and it is a Day with Him. When it is completed, He conveys to them something similar. The meaning is that matters are executed with Him for this duration, then they ultimately return to Him, for the end of all matters is to Him. It is said that the meaning is: He arranges the matter from the heaven to the earth during the duration of this world, then it returns to Him on the Day of Resurrection, and the Day of Resurrection is a measure of a thousand years from our counting, and it is upon the disbelievers the measure of fifty thousand years due to its horror and severity, as mentioned in the Surah ﴿ 'A questioner asked.'﴾ [Al-Ma'arij: 1] And we will mention there what is in it of interpretation and sayings, if Allah, exalted and majestic is He, wills. Al-Tabari narrated concerning this verse from some of them that he said: 'His saying: ﴿ in a Day ﴾ to the end of the verse (p-68) is related to His saying before this: ﴿ in six days ﴾ [As-Sajda: 4] and is connected to it, meaning that each of those six days is of a thousand years.' Abu Muhammad the judge, may Allah have mercy on him, said: 'This is a weak saying, the wording of this verse is against it, and the hadiths that affirm the days of Allah's creation of the created beings refute it. It is also reported from Ibn Zayd, from some of the people of knowledge that the pronoun in 'its measure' refers back to 'the ascent', and the ascent is the rising, and the stairways are the steps that one ascends.' A group said: 'The meaning of the verse is: He arranges the matter of the sun in that it rises and sets in a Day, and that is the measure of a thousand years.' Abu Muhammad the judge, may Allah have mercy on him, said: 'This is also weak, and the apparent return of the pronoun in 'to Him' is to the name of Allah, exalted is He, as He said: ﴿ going to my Lord ﴾ [As-Saffat: 99], and as He said: ﴿ emigrating to my Lord ﴾ [Al-Ankabut: 26], and all of this is free from bias. It is said that the pronoun returns to 'the heaven' because it may be mentioned. The majority of the people read: ﴿ 'you count.' ﴾ with a ت, while Al-Amash and Al-Hasan - with a difference from him - read: 'they count.' with a ي from below.