The explicit use of the name “Allah” is an indication [warning] people against their addiction to causes and restraining them from becoming immersed in them. It also invites minds to see the hand of power behind all causes.
The omission of the object of the verb “wills (shā’a),” although such an object is necessary according to the usual rules, is permissible here due to the associated meanings (qarīna) of other words. The omission infers that divine wish and will are not affected by the events of the universe, and that things have no effect on the divine attributes. Human will however is affected by things and their beauty and ugliness, and greatness and smallness.
“He could indeed take away (la-dhahaba)” indicates that causes do not have control and supremacy over effects so that if they were to be raised, the effects would remain in a vacuum, the playthings of coincidence and tossed around by chance; rather, the hand of power is present behind causes. When it plucks things out [of non-existence] the hand of divine wisdom takes them through the law of balance and order, and sends them to other places; it does not neglect them. [For example,] when heat breaks down the structure of water, through the order [laws] included in the air the steam follows a determined course and its Maker sends it to a specified place. Similarly, in “dhahaba” is a sign that [man’s] five external senses are not produced by nature and that there is nothing to necessitate the cavities of the eyes and ears; they are the gifts and bounties of the Most High. Cavities and causes are merely the usual conditions [for their existence].
The verb “dhahaba” is made transitive by the following [preposition] “bi-,” in “He could indeed take away their hearing (la-dhahaba bi-sam‘ihim),” instead of with ‘hamza;’ [that is, the IVth form of the verb]. This is a sign that the hand of power does not take things by the reins of causes, nor are they free to wander with their halters hanging from their necks; rather their halters are [firmly] in the hands of [the laws and] order.
Since “hearing” is in the singular and “sight” is in the plural, “their hearing and sight (bi-sam‘ihim wa abṣārihim)” indicates that one thing is audible, while numerous things may be seen, for a thousand men may hear the same thing at the same time, but what they see will be different.
The parts of the phrase “for verily Allah is powerful over all things (innā Allāhu ‘alā kulli shay’in qadīr):”
Consider this: this phrase is a summary of the study of horrors in the parable and [the people] portrayed in it. It indicates that just as the details of