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and it further acted as an overseer of the scripture that lay before it—the whole corpus of previous books—serving as a witness, a judge, and a trustworthy guardian, confirming the truthful reports they contain.
It also reaffirmed the first Scripture’s fundamentals of faith and its comprehensive laws upon which all the messengers were agreed, such as the commandments cited at the close of Surah al-Anʿām, the opening of Surah al-Aʿrāf, Surah Subḥān (al-Isrāʾ), and other Meccan chapters of the same kind.
The Exalted said:
وَهَيْمَنَ عَلَى مَا بَيْنَ يَدَيْهِ مِنَ الْكِتَابِ، وَذَلِكَ يَعُمُّ الْكُتُبَ كُلَّهَا، شَاهِدًا وَحَاكِمًا وَمُؤْتَمَنًا، يَشْهَدُ بِمِثْلِ مَا فِيهَا مِنَ الْأَخْبَارِ الصَّادِقَةِ.
وَقَرَّرَ مَا فِي الْكِتَابِ الْأَوَّلِ مِنْ أُصُولِ الدِّينِ وَشَرَائِعِهِ الْجَامِعَةِ الَّتِي اتَّفَقَتْ عَلَيْهَا الرُّسُلُ، كَالْوَصَايَا الْمَذْكُورَةِ فِي آخِرِ الْأَنْعَامِ، وَأَوَّلِ الْأَعْرَافِ، وَسُورَةِ سُبْحَانَ، وَنَحْوِهَا مِنَ السُّوَرِ الْمَكِّيَّةِ.
قَالَ تَعَالَى: