requite him. Someone who has power but does not see what the person has done would be unjust and transgressive if he requited him without knowledge. He must therefore know what that person has done. This is why a judge needs witnesses, and kings need administrative officials to inform them of the amounts of wealth and other matters, so that they may act with knowledge. . . . (1)

He states that He created man in hardship:

“Does he think that no one will ever have power over him?”

The particle lan negates a future occurrence. He is saying: Does he think that no one will have power over him in the future? This is why that man who feared his Lord and instructed his family to burn him and scatter his ashes knew that requital depended on power. He said:

“If Allah has power over me, He will surely punish me as He has punished no one in all the worlds.”

He, glorified is He, warns by mentioning His power because what He has power to do is connected with that power, just as He warns by mentioning His knowledge because requital takes place in conjunction with it. This occurs in His saying, exalted is He:

“Say, ‘He has power to send punishment upon you from above you or from beneath your feet.’”

When this was revealed, the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said: “I seek refuge in Your Face; I seek refuge in Your Face.”

“Or to divide you into factions and make you taste one another’s violence.”

He said: “These two are less severe.”

This is because He mentioned His power and the kind of thing He has power to do, just as someone might say: “Where can you flee from me? I have the power to seize you.”

The same applies to knowledge through seeing, as in His saying here:

“Does he think that no one has seen him?”