and cannot be confused by anyone of sound reason. Speaking of the punishments He inflicts in this world, He said:

“Our command came upon it by night or by day, and We made it a harvested field, as though it had not flourished the day before.”

(Yūnus: 24)

When He said, “Our command came upon it,” the people of knowledge knew that His command descends from Him, from heaven, while He is upon His Throne. But when He said:

“When the Trumpet is blown with a single blast”

(al-Hāqqah: 13)

—and the other verses we have already cited—and also said:

“On the Day when the heaven splits open with clouds and the angels are sent down in successive descent”

(al-Furqān: 25)

and:

“Allah comes to them in canopies of clouds, with the angels, and the matter is settled. To Allah all matters are returned”

(al-Baqarah: 210)

and:

“The earth is crushed, pounding upon pounding, and your Lord comes with the angels, rank upon rank”

(al-Fajr: 21–22)

it was known, from the evidence Allah explicitly set forth and from what He specified concerning the angels’ descent on that Day, that “this is Allah Himself coming on the Day of Resurrection to personally take account of His creation. No one other than Him undertakes this. Its meaning differs from that of coming upon the foundations, because the two circumstances differ.”

He went on to say:

“The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, has already spared us