And how have they united created beings and divided them? Through them come both unity and division.
The name “the Lord” unites all created beings without exception. He is the Lord of everything: He created it and has power over it. Nothing lies outside His lordship. Everyone in the heavens and the earth is His servant, held in His grasp and subject to His dominion. Thus, they are united under His lordship but divided with respect to His divinity. The blessed worship Him alone and willingly acknowledge that He is Allah, besides whom there is no deity, and that worship, reliance, hope, fear, love, turning in repentance, humble devotion, reverent awe, self-abasement, and submission are due to Him alone.
Here people part ways and become two groups: those who associate partners with Allah, in the Blaze, and those who worship Him alone, in Paradise.
It is His divinity that divides them, just as His lordship unites them. Religion and revealed law, commands and prohibitions, arise from and rest upon His divinity. Creation, bringing into existence, governance, and action derive from His lordship. Recompense through reward and punishment, Paradise and Hell, derives from His kingship. He is the King of the Day of Recompense. Thus, He commanded them by virtue of His divinity; He helped them, granted them success, guided them, and led them astray by virtue of His lordship; and He rewarded and punished them by virtue of His kingship and justice. Each of these matters is inseparable from the others.
As for mercy, it is the bond and connection between Allah and His servants. Worship proceeds from them toward Him, while lordship proceeds from Him toward them. Mercy is a bond connecting Him to His servants. Through it He sent them His messengers and revealed to them His Books; through it He guided them and settled them in the abode of His reward; and through it He provided for them, granted them well-being, and bestowed His blessings upon them. Thus, the bond from them to Him is servitude, while the bond from Him to them is mercy.
The association of His lordship with His mercy parallels the association of His rising over His Throne with His mercy. Thus,
“The All-Merciful rose over the Throne”
corresponds to His words:
“Lord of all worlds, the All-Merciful, the Most Merciful.”
For the all-encompassing breadth of His lordship, from which nothing is excluded, corresponds to the utmost scope and breadth of His mercy. He encompasses everything with His mercy and His lordship, although His being Lord