over benefit and harm. Thus, seeking benefit and protection from harm is invocation through petition, while calling upon Him in fear and hope is invocation through worship. It is therefore clear that the two kinds are inseparable: every invocation through worship necessarily entails invocation through petition, and every invocation through petition includes invocation through worship.

Accordingly, His words:

“When My servants ask you about Me, I am indeed near. I respond to the invocation of the supplicant when he calls upon Me.”

Encompass both kinds of invocation. The verse has been explained in terms of each: “I give to him when he asks Me,” and “I reward him when he worships Me.” These two interpretations are inseparable. This is not a case of using a word with two distinct meanings in both senses, nor of using a word in both its literal and figurative senses. Rather, it is being used in its literal sense, which encompasses both matters together. Reflect on this, for it is a point of immense benefit that is seldom recognized. Most Quranic verses convey two or more meanings and belong to this category.

An example is the Most High’s saying:

“Establish prayer from the sun’s decline until the darkness of night.”

“Decline” has been interpreted as the sun’s passing its zenith and as its setting. These are not two conflicting interpretations; rather, the word encompasses both. For “decline” means inclination, and the sun’s decline is its inclination. This inclination has a beginning and an end: it begins when the sun passes its zenith and ends when it sets. In this respect, the word encompasses both.

Another example is the interpretation of “the darkening one” as night and as the moon. For this