Here, however, He did not say, “They were made to testify against themselves to what He caused them to utter.” That would make this an acknowledgment to which testimony was given, distinct from the testimony itself—whether some of them testified against others, as some have maintained, or they testified against themselves to what they had acknowledged. Rather, their testimony against themselves is itself their acknowledgment.

Thus, testimony is acknowledgment, as He says:

“Stand firmly for justice as witnesses for Allah, even against yourselves.”

Likewise, it was said of Māʿiz: “He testified against himself four times.”

His making them testify against themselves therefore means that He made them witnesses against themselves—that is, made them acknowledge His lordship—as He says in the remainder of the passage:

“Am I not your Lord?” They said, “Yes, we testify.”

Their saying, “Yes, we testify,” is their acknowledgment of His lordship and their testimony against themselves that He is their Lord and that they were created by Him. They thus testified against themselves that they are His servants.

Similarly, when kings say, “This is my master,” the speaker thereby testifies against himself that he belongs to his master. This implies that such testimony is inseparable from being human: Allah has made every human being acknowledge His lordship and testify against himself that he is a creature and Allah is his Creator.

For this reason, all the children of Adam acknowledge this and testify to it against themselves. It is something necessarily inherent in them, from which no creature is free. It is part of the nature upon which they were created and formed, and has been made self-evident knowledge for them, which no one can deny.