the Witness.”

He added that some linguists defined guardianship as overseeing something and caring for it. He cited the verse:

“Indeed, the best of people after their Prophet
Is their guardian, who follows him in good and ill.”

He means the one who oversees people and cares for them.

There are two views concerning the word muhaymin (guardian). According to one, its original form is mu’aymin, with the letter h replacing the hamzah; according to the other, the h is an original root letter.

Such is the Quran: it affirms what the earlier Scriptures contain of accounts concerning Allah and the Last Day, while providing further clarification and detail. It sets out the evidence and proofs for these matters, affirms the prophethood of all the Prophets and the missions of the Messengers, and confirms the universal laws with which all the Messengers were sent.

It argues against those who deny the Scriptures and the Messengers, using various arguments and proofs. It explains Allah’s punishments of them and His support for those who followed the Scriptures and adhered to them. It makes clear what has been distorted and altered in those Scriptures, and what the People of the Book have done to the earlier Scriptures. It also makes clear what they concealed of that which Allah commanded them to disclose, as well as everything brought by the prophetic revelations, through the finest laws and ways revealed in the Quran.

Thus, the Quran has guardianship over the Scriptures that preceded it in numerous respects. It bears witness to their truth and to the falsehood of what has been distorted in them. It judges by upholding what Allah has upheld and abrogating what He has abrogated. Thus, it is a witness in matters of fact and a judge in matters of command.