The Seventh and Eighth Examples, His saying, the Exalted: {And We are closer to him than his jugular vein} and His saying: {And We are closer to him than you}.

The Shaykh :"The Seventh Example" from whom? From the examples by which the people of denial of the divine attributes argued against the people of affirming them, and they said: How do you deny upon us, yes, figurative interpretation, while you yourselves interpret?
"The Seventh and Eighth Examples, His saying, the Exalted:

and We are closer to him than [his] jugular vein

ونحن أقرب إليه من حبل الوريد

[Qaf 50:16]

and His saying, the Exalted:

And Our angels are nearer to him than you

ونحن أقرب إليه منكم

[Al-Waqi'ah 56:85]

where the nearness in both was interpreted as the nearness of the angels".
These are two verses in which Allah, Mighty and Majestic, says: "We" the pronoun refers to Allah, and thus the hidden pronoun in the predicate refers to whom? To Allah. This is the apparent meaning of the wording. Similarly His saying: meaning from the throat. The pronoun in "We" refers to Allah, and the hidden pronoun in the predicate refers to Allah. So the apparent meaning of the two verses is that Allah Himself is closer to the human being than the jugular vein, and also closer to the human being than what? Than the throat, my brothers. "We are closer to him" meaning to the throat, my brothers.
The student: To the throat.

The Shaykh : Meaning to the throat. To what? To the throat. And it is permissible that the meaning is "We are closer to him" meaning to the dying person, closer to him than you. They said: If you interpret the nearness in both as the nearness of the angels, this is figurative interpretation, meaning diverting the speech from its apparent meaning. Did you understand now? Do they have an argument in this or not? Yes, if this is the apparent meaning of the wording, they have an argument. But as we said first, figurative interpretation, if it is with evidence, is truth and is not called figurative interpretation in the technical sense, but is called explanation. Good.
"And the answer: That interpreting the nearness in both as the nearness of the angels is not diverting the speech from its apparent meaning for one who reflects upon it".
For this reason, I urge my brother students to reflect before judging, as Allah, Mighty and Majestic, commanded: Reflect, do not rush in judgment. And for this reason he said "for one who reflects upon it."
"As for the first verse: The nearness is qualified in it by what indicates that - meaning the angels - where He said:

and We are closer to him than [his] jugular vein ⁽¹⁷⁾ When the two receivers receive, seated on the right and on the left. ⁽¹⁸⁾ Man does not utter any word except that with him is an observer prepared [to record].

ونحن أقرب إليه من حبل الوريد إذ يتلقى المتلقيان عن اليمين وعن الشمال قعيد ما يلفظ من قول إلا لديه رقيب عتيد

[Qaf 50:16-18]

So in His saying:

When the two receivers receive

إذ يتلقى المتلقيان

[Qaf 50:17]

is evidence that what is intended is the nearness of the two receiving angels".
And thus His saying: is connected to "closer," which is the name of superlative. Here it is good to pause. The two receivers, why? So that a mistaken person does not imagine that His saying "a watcher" is a substitute for "the two receivers." It is not so, but rather then he started anew and said: Good, here we understood what? That what is intended by nearness is the nearness of the angels, because he qualified it: "Closer to him" meaning to the human being than the jugular vein, when the two receivers receive from the right and from the left, a watcher. Thus Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah, may Allah have mercy on him, established this, and it is apparent upon reflection.
"As for the second verse: The nearness in it is qualified by the state of dying, and those who are present with the dying person, and those who are present with the dying person at his death, are the angels, by His saying, Blessed and Exalted is He:

until, when death comes to one of you, Our messengers take him, and they do not fail [in their duties].

حتى إذا جاء أحدكم الموت توفته رسلنا وهم لا يفرطون

[Al-An'am 6:61]

Then in His saying:

But you do not see.

ولكن لا تبصرون

is clear evidence that they are the angels, as it indicates that this near one is in the very place but we do not see him, and this specifies that what is intended is the nearness of the angels, as that is impossible in the case of Allah, the Exalted".
And this is what Shaykh al-Islam, may Allah have mercy on him, established. He said: "What is intended by that is the nearness of the angels" and he clarified the aspect of what he said, and it is sound, as you see.