Principle Nineteen: The Most Beautiful Names at the Close of Verses

Allah often seals His verses with one of His Most Beautiful Names to show that the ruling just mentioned is directly related to that noble Name.

This is a subtle and beneficial principle. Follow it through every verse that ends with one of these Names and you will find perfect coherence. It will teach you that all legislation, command, and creation proceed from His Names and Attributes and are tied to them.

This, therefore, is a great gateway to knowing Allah and to understanding His rulings; it ranks among the loftiest branches of knowledge and the most honored of sciences.

Thus you will see a verse of mercy concluding with attributes of mercy, while verses of punishment and chastisement end with Names of might, power, wisdom, knowledge, and dominion.

It is useful here to cite some examples and point out their relevance, according to our limited understanding and modest expression. Even if the list grows long, the subject is of paramount importance, and scarcely a few such examples are found in the books of exegesis.

Allah the Exalted says: “Then He fashioned them into seven heavens, and He has full knowledge of all things” ⦗al-Baqarah 29⦘. Mentioning His all-encompassing knowledge after describing His creation of the earth and the heavens shows that His knowledge embraces everything contained in those vast realms; that He is All-Wise in placing them at the service of His servants; that He perfected their formation in the finest design and most complete order; and that the very act of creating them is proof of His knowledge. He says in another verse: “Does He not know, He who created—while He is the Subtle, the All-Aware” ⦗al-Mulk 14⦘. His creating and fashioning every being—human, animal, plant, or inanimate—is among the greatest rational proofs of His knowledge. How could He create them and yet not know them?

And when He related the words of the angels after informing them that He would place a vicegerent on earth