inhabited region amid the desolation except like a tent in a desert. Ka‘b al-Ahbar said: “No one can enumerate the number of the worlds except Allah.” Allah Most High says: “None knows the hosts of your Lord except Him” (al-Muddaththir 31).
Concerning His words, “Owner of the Day of Recompense”: Asim, al-Kisa’i, and Ya‘qub recited it as “Owner,” while the others recited it as “King.” Some said that the two have the same meaning, just as two variant forms may both mean “skilled,” and two others may both mean “wary.” Their meaning is lord; thus one says, “the lord of the house,” or “its owner.” It has also been said that the Owner and the King is the One able to bring created entities forth from nonexistence into existence, and none besides Allah has power over this.
Abu ‘Ubaydah said: “Owner” is more comprehensive and extensive, for one may say, “the owner of a servant, a bird, or livestock,” but one does not call someone the king of such things. Moreover, a person cannot be the owner of something without possessing it, whereas he may be king over something without owning it. Others said that “King” is more fitting, because every king is an owner, but not every owner is a king; and because it accords more closely with the rest of the Quran, such as His words: “Exalted is Allah, the True King” (Taha 114), and: “The King, the Most Holy” (al-Hashr 23).
Mujahid said: din here means reckoning. Allah Most High says: “That is the upright reckoning” (al-Tawbah 36), meaning, the just reckoning; and: “King of mankind” (Sura al-Nas). Ibn Abbas, Muqatil, and al-Suddi said: “King of the Day of Recompense” means the Judge on the Day of Reckoning. Qatadah said: din means recompense. It applies to recompense for both good and evil; thus it is said: “As you repay, so shall you be repaid.”
Muhammad ibn Ka‘b al-Qurazi said: “King of a Day in which nothing benefits except obedience.” Yaman ibn Rabab (1) said: din means subjugation. One says, “I subdued him, and he became subdued,” that is, I overcame him and he was humbled. It has also been said that din means obedience: that is, the Day of Obedience. He singled out the Day of Recompense for mention, despite being the Owner of all days, because all dominion will vanish on that Day: there will be no dominion and no command except His. Allah Most High says: “True dominion on that Day belongs to the All-Merciful” (al-Furqan 26); and He says: “To whom belongs all dominion today? To Allah, the One, the Irresistible Subduer” (Ghafir 16); and He says: “Command on that Day belongs to Allah” (al-Infitar 19).
Abu ‘Amr recited “the Especially Merciful, Owner” by assimilating the final m of al-Rahim into the m of Malik. Likewise, he assimilates any two letters of the same type, from the same point of articulation, or from closely related points of articulation, whether the letter is vowelless or vowelled—unless the first letter is geminated, bears tanwin, is defective, or bears fathah, or unless it is the second-person suffix ta preceded by a vowelless letter other than an identical letter; in such cases, he does not assimilate the two letters. The assimilation of a vowelled letter occurs in major assimilation.
Hamzah agreed with him concerning the assimilation of a vowelled letter in His words, bayyat ta’ifatun (“a group plotted by night”) (al-Nisa’ 81); wa-l-saffati saffan fa-l-zajirati zajran fa-l-taliyati dhikran (“By those ranged in ranks; then those who drive with a driving; then those who recite a reminder”) (al-Saffat 1–3); and wa-l-dhariyati dharwan (“By those that scatter in dispersal”) (al-Dhariyat 1). He assimilated the letter t into the letters following it. Al-Kisa’i and Hamzah also agreed with him concerning minor assimilation, namely the assimilation of a vowelless letter into a vowelled one, except for r before l, and d before j. Likewise, Hamzah—according to the transmission of Khallad and Khalaf—does not assimilate d before s, ṣ, or z. None of the remaining reciters applies assimilation except in a limited number of letters.
Concerning His words, “You alone we worship”: iyya is a pronominal word restricted to being joined to an implicit pronoun, and it is used before the verb. Thus one says, “You are the one I mean,” and, “You are the one I ask.” It is not used after the verb except as a separate expression; thus one says, “I meant none but you.”
Concerning His words, “we worship”: that is, we affirm Your oneness and obey You in humility. Worship is obedience accompanied by abasement and submission. A servant is called an abd because of his lowliness and compliance. Thus, one says, “a well-trodden road,” meaning, one that has been made smooth and subdued.