“That is Allah, your Lord. There is no deity worthy of worship except Him, the Creator of all things, so worship Him. He is the Guardian over all things. * No vision can encompass Him, though He encompasses all vision. He is the Most Subtle, the All-Aware. * Illuminating proofs have come to you from your Lord. Whoever sees clearly does so for his own benefit, and whoever remains blind does so to his own detriment. I am not a keeper over you.”
“Allah, your Lord” means: the God who is worshiped, who deserves the utmost humility and the utmost love; the Lord who nurtures all creation through His blessings and wards off every kind of affliction from them.
“There is no deity worthy of worship except Him, the Creator of all things, so worship Him.” That is, once it is firmly established that He is Allah, besides whom none is worthy of worship, devote every form of worship to Him, make it sincerely for Allah alone, and seek His Countenance through it. This is the very purpose for which creation was brought into being: “I did not create the jinn and mankind except to worship Me.”
“He is the Guardian over all things.” That is, all things are under Allah’s guardianship and governance in their creation, administration, and direction.
It is well known that the soundness, completeness, and perfect order of anything being administered depend upon the one entrusted with its care. Allah’s guardianship over all things is not like that of created beings. Their guardianship is a delegated agency in which the agent remains subject to the one who appointed him.
As for the Creator—Exalted is He—His guardianship originates from Himself and is exercised by His own authority. It entails perfect knowledge, wise and beneficent governance, and absolute justice. No one can therefore find fault with Allah, nor can any flaw or fissure be seen in His creation or any deficiency or defect in His governance.
Part of His guardianship is that He has undertaken to make His religion clear and to preserve it from anything that would efface or alter it. He has also undertaken to safeguard the believers and protect them from anything that would destroy their faith and religion.
“No vision can encompass Him,” because of His greatness, majesty, and perfection. That is, vision cannot encompass Him, although the believers will see Him and rejoice in gazing upon His noble Countenance. Negating complete visual comprehension does not negate seeing; rather, by implication, it affirms it. When complete comprehension—the more specific quality of seeing—is negated, this indicates that seeing itself is affirmed.
Had He intended to negate seeing, He would have said, “No vision can see Him,” or something similar. It is therefore known that this verse contains no proof for the doctrine of those who deny that they will see their Lord in the Hereafter. On the contrary, it indicates the very opposite of their claim.
“Though He encompasses all vision.” That is, His knowledge encompasses all outward and inward matters; His hearing encompasses every sound, open or concealed; and His sight encompasses everything visible, small or great. He therefore says: “He is the Most Subtle, the All-Aware”—the One whose knowledge and awareness are so subtle and exact that they encompass every secret, hidden thing, concealed matter, and inward reality.
Part of His subtle kindness is that He leads His servant toward what benefits his religion and conveys those benefits to him by means of which the servant is unaware and for which he did not strive. He brings him to everlasting happiness and eternal success from where he least expects it. He may even decree for him things that the servant dislikes, finds painful, and asks Allah to remove, because He knows that they are better for his religion and that his perfection depends upon them. Glory be to the One who brings about whatever He wills with perfect subtlety, the One who is merciful to the believers.
“Illuminating proofs have come to you from your Lord. Whoever sees clearly does so for his own benefit, and whoever remains blind does so to his own detriment. I am not a keeper over you.” After the Most High had set forth clear signs and manifest proofs demonstrating the truth in every matter and objective, He drew His servants’ attention to them and informed them that their guidance—or lack of it—is for their own benefit or detriment. He said: “Illuminating proofs have come to you from your Lord.” That is, signs that make the truth clear and render it as evident to the heart as the sun is to the eyes. This is because of their eloquent, lucid, and clear wording and their perfect correspondence to sublime meanings and beautiful truths. They proceed from the Lord who nurtures His creation with every kind of outward and inward blessing, among the finest and greatest of which are making His signs clear and explaining difficult matters.
“Whoever sees clearly”—discerns through these signs the lessons they contain and acts as they require—“does so for his own benefit,” for Allah is the Self-Sufficient, the Praiseworthy.
“And whoever remains blind”—who, though shown clearly, fails to see; though admonished, remains unrestrained; and though the truth is explained to him, neither submits nor humbles himself before it—then the harm of his blindness falls only upon himself.
“I am not”—that is, the Messenger is not—“a keeper over you,” continually preserving and watching over your deeds. My duty is only to convey the message clearly, and I have done so and conveyed what Allah revealed to me. This is my responsibility; anything beyond that has not been assigned to me (1).