Second: If this meaning were intended, “the choice” would be in the accusative, and the subject of the verb in the relative clause would be a pronoun referring back to the relative pronoun. The wording would then mean: “And He chooses that which was their choice”—that is, that which itself was their very (1) choice. Yet no one has ever recited it this way, although this would be the proper grammatical construction on that interpretation.

Third: Allah, glorified be He, recounts the disbelievers’ demands concerning His choice and their desire to have the choice themselves. He then denies them this and makes clear that choosing belongs to Him alone, as the Most High says:

“And they said, ‘Why was this Quran not sent down to a great man from either of the two cities?’ (31) Do they distribute the mercy of your Lord? We have apportioned among them their livelihood in the life of this world and raised some of them above others in rank, so that some may employ others in their service. But the mercy of your Lord is better than whatever they accumulate.” [al-Zukhruf: 31–32]

Thus He, glorified be He, rebukes them for presuming to choose for Him and declares that this is not up to them, but to (2) the One who apportioned their livelihoods among them, including their provisions and the lengths of their lives. Likewise, (3) He (4) apportions His bounty among those endowed with excellence, according to His knowledge of where His choice belongs and who is suited to it and who is not. It is He (5) who raised some of them above others in rank and apportioned among them their livelihoods and their degrees of distinction. He alone (6), and no one else, apportions all this. Likewise, this