and cannot ward off death from him. Allah Most High has said:

‘Our messengers take his soul, and they do not neglect their duty.’

And He Most High has said:

‘Say: The Angel of Death entrusted with you will take your souls.’”

I say:

Several Quran commentators, including al-Thaʿlabī, Abū al-Faraj Ibn al-Jawzī, and others, have likewise given this explanation of His words:

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

As for His words, “And We are nearer to him than you are,” Abū al-Faraj mentioned both interpretations: that this refers to the angels—which he related from Abū Sālih, from Ibn ʿAbbās—and that it means nearness through knowledge.

Their point, in every case, is that these words do not mean that the Creator Himself—glorious and exalted is He—is near the servant’s jugular vein or the dying person. Since they understood this to refer to His nearness alone, rather than the angels’ nearness, they explained it in terms of knowledge and power, as with the wording concerning His being with His servants. Yet there is no need for this, for His words, “And We are nearer to him than you are,” mean “through Our angels” in both verses.

This differs from the wording concerning His being with His servants. He did not say, “And We are with him.” Rather, He identified Himself as the One who is with His servants and stated that He will inform them on the Day of Resurrection of what they did. He Himself is the One who created the heavens and the earth, and He Himself is the One who rose over the Throne. One expression must therefore not be treated like another when the Quran distinguishes between them.

Abū Hāmid likewise said the following, agreeing with Abū Tālib al-Makkī in some of what he said and differing with him in other respects. For he is among those who deny that Allah Himself is above the Throne; according to him, what is meant is only that He has power and dominion over it, or that He is superior to it.

He said:

“And He is established over the Throne in the manner He has stated