For He, glorified and exalted is He, and His angels know the good and evil that a servant’s soul whispers to him, and the intention within his soul before he acts.

Thus, His words:

“And We are nearer to him than his jugular vein”

refer to the nearness of the angels themselves and the nearness of Allah’s knowledge. The angels themselves are nearer to the servant’s heart than his jugular vein; thus, some of them may be nearer to certain parts of him than others are. Hence He says at the conclusion of the verse:

“When the two receivers receive.”

The word “when” is an adverb of time. He thus states that they are nearer to him than his jugular vein when the two receivers receive what he says. All of this, then, concerns the angels.

As for His words:

“Indeed, I am near,”

and:

“He is nearer to each of you than the neck of his mount,”

these occur only in the context of supplication. He did not state that He is near to His servants in every circumstance; rather, He mentioned this in certain circumstances, as in the hadith:

“The nearest a servant is to his Lord is when he is prostrating,”

and similar texts.

And His words:

“Whoever draws near to Me by a handspan, I draw near to him by a cubit. Whoever draws near to Me by a cubit, I draw near to him by an armspan. Whoever comes to Me walking, I come to him at a run.”

One thing’s nearness to another necessarily entails the other’s nearness to it. Yet the second’s nearness may result from the first drawing near, and the second may also draw near through an action of its own.

(The first case is like someone approaching Mecca or the wall of the Kaaba: the closer he comes to it, the closer it becomes to him, without any action on its part.