He has also described the angels as:

“Honored servants. They do not precede Him in speech and act at His command.”

“He knows what is before them and what is behind them. They do not intercede except for those whom He approves, and they are apprehensive out of fear of Him.”

“Whoever among them says, ‘I am a god besides Him,’ We will recompense with Hell. Thus do We recompense the wrongdoers.”

The angels therefore believe what their Lord conveys and obey His commands. They convey nothing until He has conveyed it, and do nothing until He commands it, as He, Most High, said:

“They do not precede Him in speech and act at His command.”

Allah has commanded the believers to conduct themselves in the same way toward Allah and His Messenger. Human beings have not heard Allah’s speech directly from Him; rather, a human messenger stands between them and Him. They must therefore not speak until the Messenger has stated what he conveys to them from Allah, and they must act only according to what he has commanded them, as He, Most High, said:

“O you who believe, do not go ahead of Allah and His Messenger, and fear Allah. Indeed, Allah is All-Hearing, All-Knowing.”

Mujāhid said: “Do not preempt him in any matter until Allah rules on it through his words.”

(Tuqaddimū means tataqaddamū, “to go ahead,” and is an intransitive verb. It has also been recited yuqaddimū. One says qaddama and taqaddama, just as one says bayyana and tabayyana, “to become clear.” Qaddama may also be used transitively, meaning to put someone else forward, but here it is intransitive. Thus lā tuqaddimū means lā tataqaddamū: “Do not go ahead of Allah and His Messenger.”)

Every believer must therefore speak on any matter of religion only in accordance with what has been brought by