categories, Allah said, ‘This is a path incumbent upon Me,’ meaning, ‘This is a matter whose outcome rests with Me.’ The Arabs say, ‘Your way in this matter lies through so-and-so,’ meaning that consideration of your case ultimately rests with him. This is akin to His saying:

‘Indeed, your Lord is ever watchful.’”

He said:

“On this reading, the verse is a statement that contains a warning.”

I say:

This interpretation has not been transmitted from any scholar of Quranic exegesis, whether concerning this verse or its counterpart. Al-Kisā’ī only proposed it because he had difficulty understanding the verse’s meaning as understood by the early generations and indicated by the context and parallel passages. Nor does Arab usage support this interpretation. Although a man may say to someone who threatens and menaces him, “Your path passes by me,” he does not say, “Your path is straight.”

Moreover, a warning is directed at the wrongdoer, not at those who are sincere. How, then, can His word “this” be “a reference to the division of people into those who go astray and those who are sincere,” when the path of one group differs from that of the other? One group has followed the straight path that leads to Allah, while the other has followed the deviating path.

Furthermore, someone only says to another, “Your path passes by me,” as a threat when he cannot get at him at that moment, but the other will pass his way of his own accord, when he will have him within his power—just as the people of