—all of them—and yet worship others alongside Him?! Thus, “Lord” means the Creator, the Sovereign, and the Governor of all affairs. Anyone who acknowledges this is necessarily bound to worship Allah alone, as indicated by the many verses on this subject:

﴾O mankind, worship your Lord, who created you and those before you﴿ [al-Baqarah: 21].

He says, ﴾Worship your Lord, who created you﴿—meaning: do not worship anyone besides Him.

﴾The Most High﴿ is derived from highness. Allah’s highness—Glorious and Exalted is He—is of two kinds: the highness of His attributes and His highness in His Essence. As for the highness of His attributes, the most perfect attributes belong to Allah—Glorious and Exalted is He. Allah Most High says:

﴾To Allah belongs the loftiest description﴿ [al-Nahl: 60].

As for His highness in His Essence, Allah Most High is above His servants, established over His Throne. When a person says, “O Allah,” where does he turn? He turns upward, toward the sky. Allah—Majestic and Exalted is He—is above everything, established over His Throne.

Therefore, when you recite ﴾the Most High﴿, call to mind that Allah is supreme in His attributes and Most High in His Essence. This is why a person says while prostrating, “Glory be to my Lord, the Most High.” He recalls his own lowly position, for he has now descended: the noblest and highest part of a person is his face, yet he places it upon the ground that is trodden underfoot. It is therefore wise to say, “Glory be to my Lord, the Most High”—meaning: I declare my Lord, who is above everything, free of every imperfection, while I have lowered myself beneath everything. You thus glorify Allah, whose attributes are supreme and who is Most High in His Essence. When you say, “Glory be to my Lord, the Most High,” you should be conscious that your Lord Most High is above everything and possesses the utmost perfection in every attribute.

Then He says:

﴾Who created and proportioned﴿.

﴾Created﴿ means brought into existence from nothing. Allah—Glorious and Exalted is He—brought every created being into existence. Allah—Mighty and Majestic is He—says:

﴾O mankind, a parable has been set forth, so listen to it: those whom you invoke besides Allah will never create even a fly, even if they all joined forces to do so. And if the fly were to snatch anything away from them, they could not retrieve it from it﴿ [al-Hajj: 23].

This is a momentous parable. All those whom you invoke besides Allah will never create even a fly, even if they join forces to do so. Even if all the deities that are worshipped were to gather together