And the intended meaning is that they glorify Him with the tongue of the state. [Mahamud said: "The intended meaning of their glorification with the tongue of the state is that it indicates the Creator..." Ahmad said: "One may say: What is the meaning of His saying, 'He was All-Forgiving and All-Forbearing,' while He does not forgive the polytheists nor overlook their ignorance, disbelief, and associating partners with Him? Rather, He addresses the believers with these two attributes, and it appears that the addressees are the believers. As for our lack of understanding of the glorification that comes from inanimate objects, it seems—Allah knows best—that it is due to not acting according to that. For if a person were to awaken fully to the fact that the ant, the mosquito, and every particle of the universe glorifies Allah and exalts Him and bears witness to His majesty, greatness, and power, and if he filled his heart with this understanding, it would occupy him from seeking sustenance, let alone from idle talk and actions. The one who is preoccupied with gossip, which is our delight in this time, if he were to feel in his heart that every particle and essence of his tongue, which he uses in anger against Allah, is occupied and filled with the glorification of Allah and His praise, and the fear of His punishment and the terror of His might, and if he were to awaken to that fully, he would hardly speak for the rest of his life. Therefore, it seems—Allah knows best—that the verse was revealed addressing the majority of the heedless, even if they are believers. And Allah is the Grantor of success.

So praise be to Allah, who is All-Forgiving and All-Forbearing.

And it indicates the Creator and His power and wisdom, so it seems that it expresses that, and it seems to exalt Allah, the Exalted, from what is not permissible for Him, such as partners and others. If you say: What is the meaning of His saying, 'But you do not understand their glorification,' and this glorification is understood and known? I say: The address is to the polytheists. They, even if they say when asked about the Creator of the heavens and the earth, 'Allah,' when they associate deities with Him while acknowledging Him, it is as if they did not look or acknowledge, because the result of correct observation and firm acknowledgment is contrary to what they were upon. So if they did not understand the glorification and did not clarify the indication of the Creator. If you say: Who among them truly glorifies, and they are the angels? [He returned to his words. He said: If you say, 'Who among them truly glorifies, and they are the angels...'] Ahmad said: And it has been previously reported from him that he refuses to take the word in its literal and metaphorical meanings at once in the verse of prostration in Surah An-Nahl. However, it has become clear from his words that he then made prostration a metaphor for submission and not resisting the power, so it would encompass the accountable and the non-accountable by way of agreement. And he may have meant the metaphor then; Allah is the Grantor of success.

And the two weighty ones, and they were mentioned alongside the heavens and the earth, what is the meaning of that? I say: The metaphorical glorification is present in all, so it must be taken into account, otherwise the same word in one state would be taken literally and metaphorically. 'Indeed, He was All-Forgiving and All-Forbearing' when He does not hasten to punish you for your heedlessness and poor understanding and ignorance of glorification and your polytheism.