(62–63) “Allah is the Creator of all things, and He is Guardian over all things. To Him belong the keys of the heavens and the earth. Those who disbelieve in Allah’s signs—it is they who are the losers.”
The Exalted tells of His greatness and perfection, which necessarily entail the loss of whoever disbelieves in Him. He says: “Allah is the Creator of all things.” This statement, and the many similar statements found throughout the Quran, indicates that everything other than Allah is created. It refutes all who claim that some created things are eternal, such as the philosophers who maintain that the earth and the heavens are eternal, those who claim that souls are eternal, and other such assertions made by the proponents of falsehood, which effectively deny that the Creator created them.
Allah’s speech is not among created things, for speech is an attribute of the speaker, and Allah Most High, with His names and attributes, is the First, with nothing before Him. The Mu'tazilah’s inference from this verse and similar verses that His speech is created is among the gravest forms of ignorance. He has always possessed His names and attributes: none of His attributes ever newly came to be, nor was He ever without any of them.
The point relevant here is that Allah Most High informs us concerning His noble Self that He is the Creator of the entire upper and lower realms and that He is Guardian over all things. Perfect guardianship necessarily requires that the guardian know what is under his care and encompass all its details; possess complete power over it so that he can administer it; preserve what is under his care; and possess the wisdom and knowledge of how to administer matters so that he may direct and govern them in the most fitting manner. Guardianship cannot be complete without all of these; whatever is lacking in any of them constitutes a deficiency in it.
It is a firmly established fact that Allah Most High is exalted above every deficiency in any of His attributes. His declaration that He is Guardian over all things therefore indicates that His knowledge encompasses all things, that His power to govern them is perfect, that His governance is perfect, and that His wisdom—by which He assigns everything its proper place—is perfect.
“To Him belong the keys of the heavens and the earth”—that is, the keys to them in knowledge ⦗729⦘ and governance. Thus, “Whatever mercy Allah opens up for people, none can withhold; and whatever He withholds, none can release after Him. He is the Almighty, the All-Wise.”
Having explained the aspects of His greatness that should fill hearts with reverence and honor for Him, He then mentions the condition of those who inverted the matter and failed to esteem Him as He deserves. He says: “Those who disbelieve in Allah’s signs,” which point to certain truth and the straight path—“it is they who are the losers.” They have forfeited that by which hearts are set right: worshipful devotion and sincerity to Allah; that by which tongues are set right: keeping them occupied with the remembrance of Allah; and that by which the limbs are set right: obedience to Allah. In exchange, they have taken everything that corrupts hearts and bodies. They have forfeited the Gardens of Bliss and taken painful punishment in exchange.