the deeds of the night. His veil is light—or fire. Were He to remove it, the splendours of His Face would burn everything in His creation that His sight reaches.’”

Then Abū ‘Ubaydah recited:

“Blessed is whoever is in the fire and whoever is around it.”

He also cited al-Wālibī’s commentary, transmitted from Ibn ‘Abbās, concerning “Blessed is whoever is in the fire,” explaining it as “Sanctified.” From Mujāhid, concerning “Blessed is whoever is in the fire,” he cited: “The fire was blessed.” This was also what Ibn ‘Abbās used to say.

In the other surah, He mentions that He called to him from the right-hand bank of the valley, in the blessed spot, from the tree. The phrase “from the tree” is in apposition to “from the right-hand bank of the valley,” for the tree was there. He also says:

“We called to him from the right-hand side of Mount Tūr.”

Tūr means “mountain.” Thus, the call came from the right-hand side of the mountain and of the valley, since the bank of a valley is its side. He says:

“You were not on the western side.”

That is, on the western side—the side of the western location. This indicates that this right-hand side was the western side, not the eastern side. Thus, He mentions that the call came from a specific place: the sacred valley of Tuwā, from the right-hand bank of the valley, from the right-hand side of Mount Tūr, from the tree.

He also mentions that He brought him near for intimate conversation. He called to him and spoke intimately with him, and the One who called to him and spoke intimately with him was Allah, Lord of the worlds, and no other. His calling and His intimate speech subsist in Him; they are not something created and separate from Him, as claimed by those who say: “No speech subsists in Allah; rather, His speech is separate from Him and created.”

He, glorified and exalted is He, called to him and spoke intimately with him at that time, as the Quran indicates—not as claimed by those who say: “He had always been calling to him and speaking intimately with him, but at that time He created in him the perception of the eternal call, which has always existed and will always exist.”