The term is used in its original linguistic sense both literally and metaphorically; the term is not used solely in the necessary sense but is intended to denote its required meaning, and that is in reality. As for "proximity," it is mentioned sometimes in the singular form, as in His saying: {And when My servants ask you concerning Me, indeed I am near. I respond} and in the hadith: {Be gentle with yourselves} until he said {Indeed, the One you call upon is closer to one of you than the neck of his riding animal}. And sometimes in the plural form, as in His saying: {And We are closer to him than his jugular vein}, and this is like His saying: {We recite to you} and {We narrate to you} and {Upon Us is its collection and its recitation} and {Upon Us is its explanation}. The recitation here is when he hears it from Jibril, and the explanation here is his explanation to whom the Qur'an reaches. The doctrine of the predecessors of the Ummah, its leaders, and its successors: that the Prophet, peace be upon him, heard the Qur'an from Jibril, and Jibril heard it from Allah, the Mighty and Majestic. As for His saying: We recite and We narrate and the like; this form in the speech of the Arabs is for the great individual who has aides who obey him, so when his aides do an action by his command, he says: We did it. As the king says: We conquered this country. And it is from us this army and the like. And from this category is His saying, the Exalted: {Allah takes the souls} for indeed He, glorified be He, takes them through His messengers, the foremost of whom is the Angel of Death, as He said {Our messengers take him in death} {Say, the Angel of Death will take you in death} and likewise the beings of the angels draw near to the one who is dying. And His saying: {And We are closer to him than his jugular vein}.