(1–6) “In the name of Allah, the Most Compassionate, Most Merciful. * Whatever is in the heavens and the earth glorifies Allah, for He is the Almighty, All-Wise. * To Him belongs the kingdom of the heavens and the earth. He gives life and causes death, and He is Most Capable of all things. * He is the First and the Last, the Most High and Most Near, and He has perfect knowledge of all things.”

Allah Most High tells of His greatness and majesty and the vastness of His dominion: everything in the heavens and the earth—living creatures, whether endowed with speech or not, and all others, [as well as inanimate objects]—glorifies its Lord with praise and declares Him far above anything unbefitting His majesty. All are devoutly obedient to their Lord and submissive to His might, and the signs of His wisdom are manifest in them. Thus He says: “He is the Almighty, All-Wise.” This makes clear the complete dependence of all creatures in the higher and lower realms upon their Lord in every state, His absolute might and dominion over all things, and His all-encompassing wisdom in His creation and command.

He then tells of the universality of His sovereignty, saying: “To Him belongs the kingdom of the heavens and the earth. He gives life and causes death.” That is, He is the Creator of all that, the Provider who governs it by His power, “and He is Most Capable of all things.”

“He is the First,” before whom there is nothing; “and the Last,” after whom there is nothing; “and the Most High,” above whom there is nothing; “and the Most Near,” nearer than whom there is nothing. “And He has perfect knowledge of all things.” His knowledge encompasses all that is outward and inward, all secrets and hidden things, and all matters past and future.