“You alone we worship and You alone we ask for help. Guide us to the straight path” (al-Fātiḥah 1:5-6). Worship, then, must itself be performed upon that very Straight Path; otherwise it turns into harm for the servant. These are three interconnected matters, and together they form the program of those upon whom Allah has bestowed His favor. Hence He says: “Guide us to the straight path—the path of those You have favored, not of those who incur wrath, nor of those who go astray” (al-Fātiḥah 1:6-7).

The fourth verse the author—may Allah have mercy on him—cites in the chapter on watchfulness is the Almighty’s statement: “Surely your Lord is ever watchful” (al-Fajr 89:14). Allah concluded with this verse His account of the punishment visited upon ʿĀd—“Iram of the lofty pillars, the like of whom had never been created in the lands”—and upon Thamūd, “who hollowed the rocks in the valley,” and upon Pharaoh, “lord of the stakes.” All of them “transgressed in the lands, spreading therein great corruption, so your Lord poured upon them a scourge of punishment—surely your Lord is ever watchful” (al-Fajr 89:7-14). In this way He, exalted is He, makes plain that He lies in wait for every tyrant, and that for each one He will break his back, annihilate him, and leave not a trace behind.

As for ʿĀd, the people of Iram with the towering pillars—the owners of magnificent houses built upon mighty columns—Allah had granted them tremendous physical strength. Yet they waxed arrogant in the earth and said: “Who is mightier than we in power?” Thereupon Allah said: “Did they not see that Allah, who created them, is stronger than they are?” (Fussilat 41:15). Here Allah affirms that He is indeed mightier than they, and He supports this with a rational proof: He is the One who created them. For that reason He said, “Allah, who created them,” rather than simply, “Allah is stronger than they are.” It is self-evident, by necessary reason, that the Creator must be more powerful than the created; therefore, the One who brought them into existence is unquestionably stronger than they—yet they persisted in rejecting Our signs