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fa-taʿālā llāhu l-maliku l-ḥaqqu lā ʾilāha ʾillā huwa rabbu l-ʿarshi l-karīmi
So exalted is Allah, the True Sovereign, there is no god except Him, the Lord of the Noble Throne.
— Ali Quli Qarai
23Al-Mu’minūnالمؤمنونVerse 116 of 118
The Believers23. Al-Mu’minūnالمؤمنون
Al Mu’minūn
The Believers
MeccanVerse 116 of 118
Surah al-Mu’minun - Verse 116
116. “Therefore, high exalted is Allah, the King of the Truth! There is no god but He, the Lord of ‘Arsh (the Throne) of Grace.”
Sovereignty belongs only to Allah.
(“...the King of the Truth...”)
The entire universe is under His Divine lordship and administration. Thus, this verse says:
“Therefore, high exalted is Allah, the King of the Truth! There is no god but He, the Lord of 'Arsh (the Throne) of Grace.”
(He is above creating the universe in vain). One who does something in vain is ignorant, weak and powerless or is a vain and false entity in his essence. It is therefore impossible for Allah, the Ruler of the universe, Who is absolutely perfect, Who is the Truth and issues nothing save the Truth, to create something in vain and aimless. If it is imagined that someone might be able to prevent Him from achieving His aim, by the sentence
“...There is no god but He...”
The Qur’an nullifies this idea. Moreover, by emphasizing the divinity of Allah through the holy phrase:
“...the Lord of ‘Arsh (the Throne) of Grace”,
it indicates His Ownership from the point of view of His capacity as One Who rectifies, and more clearly shows the purposefulness of the universe. In short, in addition to mentioning the word ‘Allah’, which itself generally refers to His all attributes of perfection, the verse specifies four of His attributes: His ownership and sovereignty, the truthfulness of His essence, the non existence of any partners with Him, and His lordship. All of these attributes indicate that He never does anything in vain and He has not created man and the world for no end.
As already mentioned, the Arabic word /‘arsh/ refers to the entire world of existence which, in fact, is under Allah’s sovereignty, (because ‘Arsh philologically means: Throne with long legs and the Throne of the rulers, and this is an implicit declaration to Allah’s sovereignty). This can be clearly seen in the verse that says:
“...then He mounted the Throne (of authority)...” 39
which alludes to Allah’s command of the heavens and the earth after He had created them. In other words, not only is Allah the Creator, but He is also the Sovereign and Manager of the world. The Qur’anic word /‘arsh/ is qualified by the adjective /karim/ (of Grace), this is because the word ‘karim’, in Arabic, originally means honorable, beneficial, and good. Since Allah’s Throne has all these attributes, the adjective ‘karim’ has been used. It should be noted that the attribute of ‘karim’ is not used only for an entity that possesses wisdom such as man or Allah, but in the Arabic language it is used for many other things, too.
Verse 50 of Sura Al-Hajj concerning the righteous believers says:
“...for them is forgiveness and an honourable (karim) provision;”
In Mufradat, Raqib says that this adjective is not used for small and trifle kindnesses, it is rather used in cases where these kindnesses are very important. We would finally like to draw your attention to this matter: The study of the order and system of this world is one of the reasons used in the discussion of the Resurrection to confirm the existence of another world. In other words, the study upon this ‘first creation’ testifies that there is ‘later creation’ after it.40
Now it becomes necessary to explain further: We know that the world of creation is very ordered, vast, glorious and miraculous. Its ysteries are so numerous that great scientists confess that all of the knowledge of mankind compared to it is like a single page of a great book. Each galaxy of this world comprises millions of stars. The number of galaxies and the distances between them are so astoundingly immense that even when we calculate them using the speed of light which travels at the speed of 300, 000 km per second they seem terrible.
The order and accuracy found in the structure of the smallest unit of this world is the same order found in the structures of its greatest units. As far as we know, man is the most complete and the most sublime being in this material universe. At the same time, we know that with all his sublimity and lofty reputation, man is confronted many difficulties and miseries in his short lifetime. He has still barely graduated from his infancy with all its difficulties and problems when he comes up against his tumultuous youth with all its social and psychological storms. And not yet does he gain a foothold in adolescence when old age knocks at the door of his life with all its concomitant miseries.
Is it possible to believe that the purpose of this great system and man, this miracle of creation, is just to exist for a short time, passing these three periods of life with difficulty, eating a little food, wearing clothes, sleeping and waking up, and men passing away into nothingness? If this were really the case would not creation be vain and useless? Would any wise being create this great system for such a small aim? Suppose that humankind tarried in this world for millions of years and generations came and went one by one, and the material sciences advanced so much that man could avail himself to the best nutrition, garments and dwellings, would eating, drinking, dressing and sleeping be so valuable that they would be the sole purpose of his institutions and systems?
Thus, the study of this great world merely indicates that this life is an introduction to a greater, vaster, and eternal world. It is only the existence of such a world that makes our lives meaningful and purposeful. Consequently, it is not strange that the materialistic philosophers, who do not believe in the Resurrection and the Hereafter, count this world as vain and aimless. In fact, if we did not believe in such a world, we would concur with them. This is why we say if death .were the end of everything, the creation of the world would be vain and purposeless.
We read in Sura Al-Waqi‘ah, No. 56, verse 62:
“And verily you know the first creation. Why, then, do you not take admonition?”
Footnotes