a verse comparable to the words of the Most High:

“Or do they think that We do not hear their secrets and their private conversations? Yes indeed, and Our messengers are there with them, recording.”

Another example is His saying at the beginning of the surah:

“We certainly know what the earth consumes of them, and with Us is a record that preserves everything.”

On this understanding, there is nothing figurative about the nearness. The question concerns only His words, “And We are nearer,” in which He refers to His angels and messengers, or refers to Himself or His angels, though the nearness of each is appropriate to it. The angels are near to the person at that moment, whereas Allah Most High’s nearness to him is unrestricted.

This is like the second interpretation, in which Allah Most High is intended: “We are nearer to him than his jugular vein.” This brings us back to constant nearness in Himself, concerning which there are two views.

The first affirms this, and is the view of a group of speculative theologians and Sufis.

The second is that the nearness here is through His knowledge, for He says:

“We certainly created man and know what his soul whispers to him, and We are nearer to him than his jugular vein.”

The mention of knowledge here indicates nearness through knowledge. Similar to this verse is the hadith of Abū Mūsā:

“You are not calling upon one who is deaf or absent. You are calling upon One who hears and is near. The One upon whom you call is nearer to each of you than the neck of his mount.”

Thus, the verse requires no reinterpretation of nearness with respect to Allah Most High except according to this view. In that case, the context itself indicates this meaning. What the context indicates belongs to the apparent meaning of the discourse, so this would not be a point of contention. It has already been explained sufficiently that we do not condemn everything termed reinterpretation. Rather, we only