one who has been graced with all that is on the earth must be worthy of being granted everlasting happiness.
The phrase: “and has applied His design to the heavens (thumma astawā ilā al-samā’):” its positioning has four aspects:
The First: The heavens are the earth’s companion. The earth cannot be conceived of as alone; mention of it always recalls the heavens.
The Second: The skies are ordered perfectly, [in such a way that] man may utilize what is on the earth.
The Third: The preceding phrase points out evidences of [divine] beneficence and grace, while this one points to evidences of [divine] grandeur and power.
The Fourth: This phrase indicates that man’s benefits are not confined to the earth, but that the heavens too are subjugated to his use.
The positioning of the phrase “and has fashioned them into seven heavens (fa-sawwāhunna saba‘ samāwāt).” This has five aspects:
The First: This phrase is tied to the previous one in the way that [the fiat] “Be!” is tied to “and it is.”
The Second: [It is tied to the previous one] in the way that the functioning (ta‘lluq) of [divine] power and that of [divine] will are tied.
The Third: [It is tied to the previous phrase] in the way that the conclusion [of a piece] is tied to the introduction.
The positioning of the phrase “and of all things He has full knowledge (wa hū bi-kulli shay’in ‘alīm)” has two aspects:
One of them: [This phrase] is an argument from cause to effect (dalīl limmī) proving the ordering [described in the previous phrase], just as that ordering is an argument from effect to cause (dalīl innī) proving this phrase. For order and harmony prove the existence of perfect knowledge, just as knowledge informs order.
The other: The previous phrase points to perfect power, while this one indicates all-embracing knowledge.
The positioning of the parts of the verse’s phrases:
[The verse contains these points:] the first phrase is not tied to the previous one; the first two parts are definite, as is the predicate; the preposition “la-” of “la-kum – for you” and the phrase’s precedence; the preposition “in (fī);” and the word “all (jamī‘an).”
Being unconnected to what preceded it (al-istīnāf) the first phrase implies the unstated questions the answers to which were noted in the ‘five aspects’ of the positioning of the first phrase above.