⦗13 - 17⦘ “He is the One who shows you His signs and sends down provision for you from the sky, yet none takes heed except one who turns to Him. So call upon Allah, devoting your worship sincerely to Him, even though the disbelievers hate it. Exalted in degrees, Owner of the Throne, He sends down the Spirit by His command upon whomever He wills of His servants, so that he may warn of the Day of Meeting—the Day when they will all emerge, with nothing about them hidden from Allah. ‘To whom does all sovereignty belong today?’ ‘To Allah, the One, the All-Subduing.’”
Allah Most High mentions His immense blessings upon His servants by making truth distinct from falsehood. He shows His servants His signs within themselves, throughout the horizons, and in the Quran. These signs furnish evidence for every truth one seeks to know and make guidance distinct from error, so that whoever examines and reflects upon them is left with not the slightest doubt concerning the truth. This is among His greatest blessings upon His servants: He has not left the truth uncertain or the correct way obscure. Rather, He has presented evidence in many forms and made the signs clear, so that whoever perishes may perish upon clear proof and whoever lives may live upon clear proof.
The greater and more momentous a matter is, the more numerous and accessible are the proofs for it. Consider monotheism: because it is one of the greatest matters—indeed, the greatest of them all—the rational and revealed proofs for it are numerous and varied. Allah has set forth parables for it and presented abundant evidence establishing it. He therefore mentions it here and draws attention to a number of its proofs, saying: “So call upon Allah, devoting your worship sincerely to Him.”
Having mentioned that He shows His servants His signs, He draws attention to one tremendous sign, saying: “And sends down provision for you from the sky.” That is, rain by which you and your livestock are provided for and sustained. This shows that every blessing comes from Him. From Him come the blessings of religion, comprising the matters of religion, the evidence supporting them, and the deeds that consequently follow. From Him also come all worldly blessings, such as those produced by the rain through which lands and people are brought to life. This conclusively demonstrates that He alone must be worshipped and that all worship must be devoted sincerely to Him, just as He alone bestows every blessing.
“Yet none takes heed” of the signs when reminded by them “except one who turns” to Allah Most High by directing himself toward loving, fearing, and obeying Him and by humbly imploring Him. Such a person benefits from the signs; they become a mercy for him and increase his insight.
Since the signs produce remembrance, and remembrance necessarily leads to sincerity toward Allah, He follows this with a command introduced by a particle indicating causation: “So call upon Allah, devoting your worship sincerely to Him.” This encompasses both invoking Him through worship and calling upon Him with requests. Sincerity means directing one’s intention solely to Allah Most High in every obligatory and recommended act of worship, whether it concerns the rights of Allah or those of His servants. That is, be sincere to Allah Most High in everything you practice as religion and by which you seek nearness to Him.
“Even though the disbelievers hate it.” Pay no heed to them. Do not let their hatred turn you away from your religion, and let no critic’s reproach deter you in your devotion to Allah. The disbelievers utterly hate sincere worship of Allah alone, as Allah Most High says: “When Allah alone is mentioned, the hearts of those who do not believe in the Hereafter recoil in aversion; but when those besides Him are mentioned, they immediately rejoice.”
He then mentions aspects of His majesty and perfection that require worship to be devoted sincerely to Him, saying: “Exalted in degrees, Owner of the Throne.” That is, the Most High and Supreme, who rose over the Throne and is uniquely distinguished by this. His degrees are exalted to a height by which He is distinct from His creation; His standing is sublime, His attributes are majestic, and His Essence is transcendent. No one may draw near to Him except through virtuous, pure, and undefiled deeds—namely, sincerity—which raises the degrees of those who possess it, brings them near to Him, and elevates them above His creation.
He then mentions His blessing upon His servants through the message and revelation, saying: “He sends down the Spirit”—that is, revelation, whose relation to souls and hearts is like that of the spirit to bodies. Just as a body cannot live or survive without a spirit, the soul and heart cannot be sound or prosper without the spirit of revelation. Thus, He Most High “sends down the Spirit by His command,” which contains ⦗735⦘ benefit and well-being for His servants,
“upon whomever He wills of His servants.” These are the messengers whom Allah favored and specially chose to receive His revelation and call His servants to Him.
The purpose of sending the messengers is to secure the happiness of Allah’s servants in their religion, worldly lives, and Hereafter, and to remove misery from them in their religion, worldly lives, and Hereafter. He therefore says, “So that he may warn”—that is, so that the one to whom Allah gives revelation may warn of—“the Day of Meeting.” He thereby frightens the servants concerning that day and urges them to prepare for it by adopting the means that will save them from what will occur then.
It is called “the Day of Meeting” because on it the Creator and His creatures will meet, the creatures will meet one another, and the doers will meet their deeds and their recompense.
“The Day when they will all emerge”—that is, they will be fully visible upon the earth, assembled on a single, level plain in which there is neither curvature nor unevenness. The caller will be heard by them all, and they will all be within sight.
“With nothing about them hidden from Allah”—neither their persons, their deeds, nor the recompense for those deeds.
“To whom does all sovereignty belong today?” That is: Who is the Sovereign of that tremendous day, which brings together the first and the last, the inhabitants of the heavens and the inhabitants of the earth—a day on which all claims of partnership in sovereignty have ceased, all ties have been severed, and nothing remains but good or evil deeds? Sovereignty belongs “to Allah, the One, the All-Subduing.” That is, He is unique in His Essence, names, attributes, and deeds, and He has no partner in any of them whatsoever. “The All-Subduing” is the One who subdues every creature. All creatures submit, humble themselves, and yield to Him, especially on that day when all faces will be humbled before the Ever-Living, the Self-Sustaining. On that day, no soul will speak except by His permission.