Allah’s names, when used without qualification—such as the All-Hearing, the All-Seeing, the All-Forgiving, the Most Appreciative, the Responsive, and the Near—need not apply to every existing thing. Rather, each name applies to what is appropriate to it. His name the All-Knowing applies to everything because everything can be known.

As for His words, Most High:

“We created man and know what his soul whispers to him, and We are closer to him than his jugular vein, when the two recording angels record, seated on the right and on the left. Not a word does he utter without an observer beside him, ready to record.”

And His words:

“Then why, when the soul reaches the throat, while you are looking on at that moment—and We are nearer to him than you are, though you do not see—”

What is meant is His nearness to him through the angels. This is the interpretation known from the early Quran commentators among the righteous predecessors. They said: “The Angel of Death is nearer to him than his family, but you do not see the angels.”

One group interpreted “We are closer to him” as meaning through knowledge. Some said through knowledge and power; others used the wording “through power and sight.” These views are weak, for neither the Book nor the Sunnah describes Him as having a universal nearness to every existing thing, such that they would need to explain it as nearness through knowledge, power, and sight. However, when some people assumed that He was described as near to everything, they interpreted this to mean that He knows everything and has power over everything. It is as though they thought that the expression “nearness” was like the expression “being with.” For the expression “being with” in the surahs of