10:25 “Allah invites to the Home of Peace.” He calls it the Home of Peace here because it is free from the afflictions He has mentioned concerning this world. His invitation is addressed to all, but He singles out whomever He wills for guidance to it. The former is His justice; the latter is His grace.

[Surah Jonah (10): verse 30]
“There every soul will experience what it had done before. They will be returned to Allah, their true Master, and whatever they used to fabricate will be lost to them.” (30)

If it is asked, “Is there an evident difference between His statement in Surah Jonah, 10:30, and His statement in Surah Saba’, 34:24, ‘Say, “Who provides for you from the heavens and the earth?” Say, “Allah”’?”

The answer is: This is among the most subtle and difficult of these passages, with a particularly delicate distinction. Reflect carefully on the context, and you will find it contrary to what has occurred. The verses in Jonah present an argument against them based on what they acknowledged and could not deny: that the Lord Most High provides for them, controls their hearing and sight, manages their affairs and other matters, and brings forth the living from the dead and the dead from the living.

They acknowledged all this when it was presented as an argument against them: the One who does these things is Allah, besides whom there is no deity. How, then, could they worship others alongside Him and ascribe partners to Him who possess none of this and can do none of it? This is why, after mentioning these acts of His, He said, “They will surely say, ‘Allah.’” That is, they must acknowledge this and cannot deny it. What is mentioned must therefore be something they acknowledge.

Those addressed by this verse, against whom its argument was directed, acknowledged only that provision descended from the direction of this sky which they actually saw. They neither acknowledged nor knew that provision descended from one heaven to another until it reached them; their knowledge did not extend that far. Thus, the singular word “sky” is used here, since they could not deny that provision came from it—especially if the provision meant here is rain, which comes from the sky in the sense of the clouds, called “sky” because of their height. He—glorified is He—has stated that He spreads the clouds in the sky, saying:

“It is Allah who sends the winds, which stir up clouds, and He spreads them in the sky however He wills.”

The clouds are only