except that Allah will permit him to prostrate. Everyone who used to prostrate out of fear and for show will have his back made into a single rigid piece by Allah; whenever he tries to prostrate, he will fall onto his back. Then they will raise their heads, and He will have changed into the form in which they saw Him the first time. He will say, ‘I am your Lord,’ and they will say, ‘You are our Lord.’”

This explicitly shows that the One who came to them and said, “I am your Lord,” is the One who showed them the sign by which they recognized Him. They then prostrated to Him and recognized that He was the Lord of the worlds. Had the one who said, “I am your Lord,” been an angel, that angel would have been the one they ultimately acknowledged as the Lord of the worlds and the one to whom they prostrated. This is among the gravest forms of disbelief and misguidance.

Eighth: The words, “When our Lord comes, we will recognize Him. Then He will come to them in the form they recognize and say, ‘I am your Lord.’ They will say, ‘You are our Lord,’” together with the statement that He reveals the sign mentioned and they prostrate to Him, explicitly show that the One to whom they prostrate has come in the form they recognize and reveals Himself to them in the form in which they saw Him the first time. This explicitly shows that Allah is the One who comes in the form in which they recognized Him, and that they prostrated to Him when they recognized Him.

Ninth: His statement, “It may mean, ‘When our Lord’s beneficence comes, we will recognize it,’” and his statement, “Then Allah will come to them in the form that