Tafsir of the saying of Allah the Exalted: “Indeed, I am going to place on the earth a successor”
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
In the verse, Shaykh,[Al-Baqarah 2:30] what is meant by that?
Answer:
What is meant is that he succeeds those who came before him from the people of the earth; he succeeds those who came before him from the creatures on earth. This is the khalifah (successor), and not a successor to Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He). Allah is not succeeded; no one succeeds Him. Rather, the meaning is that he is the successor to those who came before him from the creatures, because there were creatures on the earth before him. Yes.
In the verse, Shaykh,
And [mention, O Muhammad], when your Lord said to the angels, "Indeed, I will make upon the earth a successive authority."
وَإِذْ قَالَ رَبُّكَ لِلْمَلَائِكَةِ إِنِّي جَاعِلٌ فِي الْأَرْضِ خَلِيفَةًAnswer:
What is meant is that he succeeds those who came before him from the people of the earth; he succeeds those who came before him from the creatures on earth. This is the khalifah (successor), and not a successor to Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He). Allah is not succeeded; no one succeeds Him. Rather, the meaning is that he is the successor to those who came before him from the creatures, because there were creatures on the earth before him. Yes.
Source
نور على الدرب - الفوزان - 03/058 — archive.org (15:04)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.