Exegesis of the verse: ((Say, "O Allah, Owner of Sovereignty, You give sovereignty to whom You will and You take sovereignty from whom You will..."))

I seek refuge in Allah from the accursed Shaytan. . I seek refuge in Allah from the accursed Shaytan. Allah the Exalted said: It is clear that the address is to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). The connection of this verse to what precedes it is that those who were given a portion of the Book, when they were called to the Book of Allah to judge between them, turned away, desiring that sovereignty be theirs and not for others. So the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) was commanded to supplicate to Allah with this supplication, which includes these great attributes, the implication of which is the ability of Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He) to transfer the message, which is followed by sovereignty, from the Children of Israel to the Arabs through Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him). This is the point of connection between these two verses and what precedes them, namely that these people who turned away and averted themselves, when called to the Book of Allah to judge between them, undoubtedly desired that sovereignty remain with them and that they prevent it from others. So Allah commanded His Prophet to supplicate to Allah with this supplication, which includes the ability of Allah to transfer the prophethood, which is followed by sovereignty, from the Children of Israel to the Arabs. He said: We have previously discussed this phrase and explained that it is a vocative in which the yaa of invocation was omitted and replaced by the mīm. For this reason, it is not combined with the vocative particle, nor is it combined with it except in a case of anomaly, as Ibn Maalik said: "And 'Allāhumma' is anomalous in its poetry," meaning in its composition. And his saying: means "O Allah." And his saying: "Malik" is an active participle, and it is possible that it means the owned, i.e., the Owner of all owned things. It is also possible that the intended meaning is management, i.e., the Owner of the management of all creation. Both matters are established for Allah (Mighty and Majestic); He is the Owner of all owned things by their very essence, and He is the Owner of their disposition, with no one sharing Him in that. He is the One who manages the affair and owns the commanded. And his saying: It is said that it is a substitute for "Allah," but it is in the accusative case because it is an attribute, and the substitute is based on the intention of repeating the operator. If you were to allow the yaa, which is the yaa of the operator in , to operate on , the accusative case would be obligatory, because when the vocative is an attribute, the accusative case is required in it. Whether you say it is a substitute or that it is a vocative in which the particle of invocation was omitted, the meaning does not differ. He said: Then he explained and said: The most correct is that this is a new sentence to clarify how the sovereignty of Allah (Mighty and Majestic) is for this owned thing. He said: And he said: meaning "You give." He did not say "You own," because what is distant from sovereignty is only from the giving of Allah the Exalted and His empowerment of it. For this reason, the owner among the created beings does not dispose of what he owns except according to what? Except according to the Shari'ah that Allah the Exalted has legislated, because the giving is from Allah, so the disposition of this given thing is to Allah the Exalted, not to the human being. So the human being does not have the right to dispose absolutely of what Allah has given him. And his saying: is a verbal sentence; "tu'ti" is from the verbs that take two objects, the original of which is not the subject and predicate. Its first object is "al-mulk" (sovereignty), and its second object is "man" (whom). And his saying: We know that it is from the Sunnah of Allah the Exalted that everything has a cause, either a legislative cause or a cosmic cause, because this is the implication of the wisdom of Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He). If that is the case, then the giving of sovereignty by Allah to whom He wills is restricted by a cause, so it must have a cause. Sovereignty may be independent of the message, or it may be following the message. If it is based on the Shari'ah, it becomes following the message, and if it is not based on the Shari'ah, it is independent. Allah the Exalted said: This sovereignty is following the message, or is it independent? It is independent, not following the message, because he is a disbeliever, this is the one who argued with Ibrahim regarding his Lord. As for the saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him): the intended meaning of sovereignty here is the sovereignty of prophethood, meaning the sovereignty that follows prophethood. Here he says: It includes the independent sovereignty, which may be based on disbelief, and the sovereignty that follows the message, which is based on the Shari'ah. He said: Then, indeed: like many of the noble verses that restrict the ruling by the will or suspend the ruling by the will, they are all restricted by what wisdom requires. His saying: It is possible to take two meanings. The first meaning: removal after establishment. The second meaning: removal meaning prevention. According to the first, it contains an indication that Allah the Exalted gives sovereignty to whom He wills of His creation, then He removes the sovereignty from him. How many a sovereign had sovereignty and then his sovereignty vanished, either by being overpowered, or by his death, or otherwise. It is also possible that it means prevention, i.e., You give sovereignty to whom You will and You do not give sovereignty to whom You will. Both meanings are correct. So Allah the Exalted may give a human being sovereignty, and He may remove the sovereignty from him after it has been established for him, and both are correct. So sovereignty is in the hand of Allah, He gives it to whom He wills. So this one is given sovereignty, and this one is not given sovereignty, and this one is given sovereignty and then the sovereignty is removed from him, and this one is given sovereignty and the sovereignty continues for him until Allah takes his soul. But this is also by wisdom. It may be that this sovereign from whom sovereignty is removed is not fit for sovereignty because he is one of the corrupters in the land, so one is empowered over him to remove the sovereignty from him. It may also be that this sovereign is weak; he does not want corruption, but he is weak and does not establish reform, so one is empowered over him to remove the sovereignty from him. This is common in history if you reflect upon it. And Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He) does not do anything except for a wisdom. And "i'zaz" (honoring) here means strengthening, i.e., making him honorable, strong, and dominant over others. And likewise, You humble whom You will. Is this attached to sovereignty, i.e., You honor whom You will of the kings, or You humble whom You will, or is it general? It is general. It is general. Allah may honor a person with his religion, knowledge, and faith, even if he is not a king. And He may honor him with his sovereignty. And likewise in humiliation, He may humble him with disobedience and being overpowered. With disobedience, this is in contrast to honor by faith, and with being overpowered, this is in contrast to honor by sovereignty. The important thing is that honoring and humiliating do not necessitate sovereignty, and sovereignty does not necessitate them. So who does Allah honor? Allah honors the one He mentioned in His saying: So honor is for Allah, but there is no involvement... but those whom Allah honors are the messengers and their followers, as Allah the Exalted said: So one of the causes of honor is faith, whether the person is a king or not. And one of the causes of honor is preparation, caution, decisiveness, strength, and energy. All of these are causes of honor, but these are material, tangible causes, and faith is a spiritual cause. However, faith may have as its fruit and result that the person becomes strong and decisive, looking at matters with the perspective of wisdom, and thus he attains honor thereby. He said: Allah humbles whom He wills, from those whom Allah has given sovereignty and from those whom He has not given sovereignty. Perhaps one may be a king but he is humble, weak, and afraid. He is afraid of everything and does not have decisiveness, strength, or energy. And Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He) may humble a person in his sovereignty, and Allah may humble one who was not a king. And one of the causes of humiliation is that a person becomes proud of himself and exposes himself to what he cannot repel. So these are two things: his pride in himself may cause him to be abandoned and humbled. Likewise, his exposure to what he cannot repel may be a cause of his humiliation and abandonment as well. And many people fall into both of these matters. So many people speak or act without paying attention to seeking help from Allah the Exalted, so they are abandoned. And many people expose themselves to matters that they cannot repel, which are great matters beyond their level, so they are abandoned and humbled. For this reason, it came in the athar: