Explaining the saying of Allah the Exalted: “And remember the favor of Allah upon you and His covenant which He bound you to, when you said, ‘We hear and we obey.’ And fear Allah, for Allah is All-Knowing.”

Allah the Exalted said: For any person, by virtue of his fitrah (innate natural disposition) and nature, must submit to one who has done good to him. So He, Glory be to Him, says: Remember it. This means the covenant He bound you to, which is His saying: So the saying of the believer, “We hear and we obey,” means his commitment to everything without distinguishing between what his heart desires and what it does not desire. And His saying: means what is said, means in what is commanded and forbidden, so it includes believing the news, obeying the command, and avoiding the prohibition. Take protection from Him, (Exalted and Majestic is He), and that is by doing His commands and leaving His prohibitions with knowledge and insight. This sentence is an explanation that includes a threat, meaning that taqwa (mindfulness of Allah) must be based on the rectification of the heart, not merely a statement of the tongue, but rather that a person’s taqwa be in his heart and his limbs. For this reason, Allah the Exalted said: meaning the possessors of the breasts. And who are the possessors of the breasts? They are the hearts. Know that the word “dhat” (possessor) is used in the Arabic language for several meanings, among which is that it is used as a relative pronoun in the language of the Tayy tribe, as Ibn Malik said: “And ‘ka’ which is... dhat.” So, for example, in the language of Tayy, when saying “The woman who obeyed Allah came,” they say “The woman dhat obedience to Allah came.” So for them, it means “who” and is used in the direction of, like the saying of Allah the Exalted: meaning the direction or the connection between you. And it is used for “possessor,” meaning the owner, as in this verse: meaning the possessors of the breasts. And it is not used for the self (nafs) except in the terminology of the theologians (mutakallimun), for they use “dhat” (self) for the nafs, meaning that which is the opposite of the attribute. For this reason, you will find in the speech of those who speak about creed that they often say “the self and the attributes,” expressing the self with “dhat.” So His saying: If we want to interpret it according to the terminology of the theologians, we say: His self, meaning His essence. And the self of Allah, Glory be to Him, is not an attribute other than the essence, but it is the essence itself. So the saying of some people of creed: “And we affirm for Allah a self,” may lead some people to understand that the self is an attribute added to the essence, and that is not the case. But they mean that we describe Allah with the self only, but it is not an independent attribute, but it is the essence itself. So His saying: is exactly like His saying: “Allah warns you of Allah,” meaning that Allah the Exalted has a self. And His saying: means what is with you and what is with me. So be careful of this, because some people, when they read in books of creed: “We affirm for Allah a self,” think that it is an attribute added to the essence, and that is not the case.