at ya’, while Hamzah additionally does so at waw. The others do not assimilate it. Abu Ja‘far pronounces the nūn and tanwīn with concealment before kha’ and ghayn.

Regarding His words, “a guidance for those mindful of Allah”: that is, it is guidance—right direction and clarification—for those who are mindful of Allah. It was also said that it is in the accusative as a circumstantial qualifier, meaning, “guiding.” Its sense, then, is: There is no doubt concerning its guidance for those mindful of Allah. Guidance is that by which a person finds the right way. “Those mindful of Allah” means the believers.

Ibn ‘Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him, said: “The one mindful of Allah is he who guards himself against associationism, grave sins, and indecencies.” The word is derived from taking protection. Its original meaning is to place a barrier between two things. Thus one says, “He protected himself with his shield,” meaning that he placed it as a barrier between himself and what was coming toward him.

In the hadith: “Whenever the fighting grew fierce, we sheltered ourselves behind the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him” (1)—that is, when the battle intensified, we placed him as a barrier between ourselves and the enemy. Likewise, the one mindful of Allah makes obedience to Allah’s command and avoidance of what He has forbidden a barrier between himself and punishment.

‘Umar ibn al-Khattab, may Allah be pleased with him, said to Ka‘b al-Ahbar (2), “Tell me about mindfulness of Allah.” He replied, “Have you ever travelled along a thorny path?” He said, “Yes.” Ka‘b asked, “What did you do upon it?” He said, “I was cautious and drew up my garments.” Ka‘b said, “That is mindfulness of Allah.”

Shahr ibn Hawshab said: “The one mindful of Allah is he who leaves what is unobjectionable out of fear of what is harmful.” ‘Umar ibn ‘Abd al-‘Aziz said: “Mindfulness of Allah is to leave what Allah has forbidden and to fulfil what Allah has made obligatory. Whatever Allah grants after that is goodness added to goodness.”

It was also said that it is following the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him. In the hadith: “The sum total of mindfulness of Allah is contained in His saying, ‘Indeed, Allah commands justice and excellence’” (al-Nahl 16:90), to the end of the verse. Ibn ‘Umar said: “Mindfulness of Allah is that you do not consider yourself better than anyone else.” The special mention of those mindful of Allah honors them; or it is because they are the ones who take guidance as their safeguard.

Regarding His words, “those who believe”: “those” is in the genitive case as an adjective describing “those mindful of Allah.” “They believe” means: they affirm. Abu ‘Amr and Warsh omit the hamzah, whereas the others pronounce it. Likewise, both omit every unvocalized hamzah that is the first radical of a verb, such as yu’minu and mu’min, except for a limited number of letters (3).

In its essential sense, faith is affirmation of the heart. Allah, Exalted is He, says: “But you would not believe us” (Joseph 12:17)—that is, you would not affirm what we say (4). In the Sacred Law, it is belief in the heart, profession by the tongue, and action by the limbs. Profession and action were thus called faith because of their connection to it, as they are among its prescribed requirements.

Islam is submission and compliance. Thus, every faith is Islam, but not every Islam is faith if it is not accompanied by affirmation. Allah, Exalted is He, says: “The Bedouins say, ‘We believe.’ Say, ‘You have not believed; rather, say, “We have submitted”’” (al-Hujurat 49:14). That is because