His saying, glorified and exalted is He: "Glory be to the Lord of the heavens and the earth, the Lord of the Throne, above what they describe." "So leave them to plunge and play until they meet their Day which they are promised." "And He is the One who is God in the heavens and God on the earth, and He is the Wise, the Knowing." "And blessed is He to whom belongs the dominion of the heavens and the earth and whatever is between them, and with Him is knowledge of the Hour, and to Him you will be returned." When He said: "So I am the first of the worshippers" [Az-Zukhruf: 81], the Lord, glorified and exalted is He, is exalted above this saying which they said. And "Glory be" is an exaltation. He specified the heavens, the earth, and the Throne because they are the greatest of the creations. And His saying, glorified and exalted is He: "So leave them to plunge" is a concession that has been left, and it is abrogated by the verse of the sword. The majority read: "until they meet," and Abu Ja'far and Ibn Muhaysin read: "until they throw." The majority said: the Day which He threatened them with is the Day of Resurrection, and 'Ikrimah and others said: it is the Day of Badr. And His saying, glorified and exalted is He: "And He is the One who is God in the heavens and God on the earth" is a verse of judgment regarding His greatness and an announcement of His divinity, meaning: His command is enforced in everything. Umar ibn al-Khattab, Ubayy ibn Ka'b, Al-Hakam ibn Abi al-As, Jabir ibn Zayd, Abu al-Sheikh, Bilal ibn Abu Burdah, Yahya ibn Amr, and Ibn al-Samif'ah read: "And He is the One who is God in the heavens, and God on the earth," and "the Wise" means: the One whose commands are precise. And "blessed" is a form of interaction, from blessing, meaning: His blessings have increased. And "to Him belongs the dominion of the heavens and the earth and whatever is between them" is a limitation of all existing tangible entities. And "knowledge of the Hour" means: knowledge of the specification of its occurrence and the stopping at its determination and limitation. This is what Allah has exclusively kept knowledge of, otherwise we have knowledge of the Hour, that it will occur with horrors and attributes. The source in His saying, glorified and exalted is He: "knowledge of the Hour" is added to the object. The majority of the reciters read: "and to Him you will be returned" with the 'ya' from below. Nafi', Asim, and Abu Amr read: "and to Him you will return" with the 'ta' from above, which is rounded. Al-Aswad and Al-Amash read: "they will be gathered" with the 'ya' from below.