The Benefits of the Verse: ((O mankind, fear your Lord who created you from one soul...))

This noble verse yields several benefits. First: the obligation of fearing Allah upon all people. Where is this taken from? From His saying: This is the address to the assembly of people. And among its benefits: the clarification that people were created from nothing, as He said: . In it is the refutation of the atheistic idea that people evolved from apes to humanity. Where is this taken from? From His saying: . We do not know the self except Adam, from whose lineage we are. But whoever claims that the origin of the children of Adam is an ape, we say to him: your admission against yourself is accepted, but against others it is not accepted. And among its benefits: the reminder of the blessing of Allah (Mighty and Majestic) in what He created for us of spouses, as He said: . And "from" here is for partiality, and it is permissible that it be for specification, meaning from their kind. This is a great blessing. If our spouses were of a different kind than us, would it be possible for us to find comfort in them? Never. A person does not find comfort in anyone except one who is of his own kind. If she were of the kind of cows or of the kind of sheep, would a person find comfort in her? It is not possible; rather, he would be strongly repelled by her. And among its benefits: the origin of this humanity, which none can count except Allah, is what? Its origin is one. If you wish, say: its origin is two: a husband and a wife, from whom He created these men, many, and women, people whom none can count except Allah (Mighty and Majestic), as He said: . And among its benefits: the importance of the multitude of men is greater than the multitude of women, as He said: . For the explicit mention of the multitude of men indicates the importance of this multitude. And among its benefits: the importance of taqwa (mindfulness of Allah), and for this reason Allah repeated the command of it twice. And among its benefits: that taqwa is obligatory by virtue of Lordship and by virtue of Divinity, as He said: This is the requirement of Lordship, and His saying: This is the requirement of Divinity. And among its benefits: that asking by Allah is a real, known matter among the Arabs, as He said: . But is it permissible for a person to ask another by Allah? We say: if the intention is to remind, there is no harm. But if the intention is to compel, there is a consideration. If he says: "I ask you by Allah," meaning I remind you of Him so that you heed the greatness of Allah and His right, this is permissible. If the intention is to compel him, that is putting him in a difficult position. And of that is what sometimes happens from some who present their questions in lectures, saying: "I ask you by Allah except that you answer me" or saying to the presenter of the question: "I ask you by Allah except that you present it". This is putting him in a difficult position. The one answering or the presenter may see it in the interest that this question not be presented or not be answered. If he asks by Allah, is it obligatory to answer him? We say: if he asks by Allah for something forbidden, there is no honor in it, and it is not permissible to answer him. As if he said: "I ask you by Allah to enter so-and-so's orchard and bring us oranges and apples." Is this permissible or not? No, it is not permissible, and there is no honor in it. If he asks by Allah for something that harms me, saying: "I ask you by Allah to give me half your wealth," is it obligatory for me to answer him? No, because there is harm to me in it. If he says: "I ask you by Allah to give me my right that is obligatory upon you," here it is obligatory. It is obligatory from two aspects: first, that it is a right and it is obligatory; and second, that he asked by Allah. And some of the people of knowledge said: the meaning of the saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him): is whoever asks you for a right that Allah has made obligatory upon him, Allah has made it obligatory upon the one asked. So the meaning of his saying: is whoever asks you by the law of Allah, meaning whoever asks you a question that the law requires answering, then answer. And the meaning is not whoever says: "I ask you by Allah," because whoever says "I ask you by Allah" may intend a meaning that is not valid to state absolutely. Meaning, whoever says: "I ask you by Allah," and intends to make Allah an intercessor to this one asked, this is forbidden, because it is not permissible to seek intercession by Allah over His creation, for the station of Allah is too great to be a means between you and the creation. And among its benefits: the obligation of respecting kin, as He said: on the reading of the accusative case. And also the indication of respecting kin on the reading of the genitive case, meaning just as you respect them and ask by them, honor them and give them their right. And among its benefits: the warning against disobeying Allah (Mighty and Majestic), where is this taken from? From His saying: . And whoever believes that Allah is a watcher over him, he will beware of disobeying Allah (Mighty and Majestic). Do we take from this verse the affirmation of the name "The Watcher" for Allah? The scholars take from it the affirmation of a name for Allah. Do we say that "was" here is intended with its temporal meaning or not? No, because if its temporal meaning were intended, the watching would have passed. But it is intended to affirm the attribution of the described to the attribute that was the news in this sentence, i.e., affirming that Allah is a watcher over him. And so is the saying of Allah the Exalted: . The meaning is not that He was and then increased, but the meaning is to affirm His attribution to forgiveness and mercy .