Tafsir of Ta-Ha 20:8

His saying—Glorified be He—"Allah" is the predicate of an omitted subject. The sentence is an inception intended to clarify that the one described by the aforementioned attributes of perfection is that True Worshipped One; that is, the One characterized by the mentioned majestic attributes—Mighty and Majestic is He.

His saying—Exalted be He—"There is no god but He" is a confirmation of the truth and an explicit declaration of what was contained in the preceding statement regarding the exclusivity of divinity to Him—Glorified be His state. For indeed, what has been attributed to Him—Mighty and Majestic is He—regarding the creation of all existing things, the loftiness befitting His state over all creatures, the All-Mercifulness, the Sovereignty over both the higher and lower worlds, and the all-encompassing knowledge, entails what it entails in a clear manner.

Before it, Blessed be His Name, "To Him belong the Most Beautiful Names" is an explanation that what has been mentioned—the creatorship and other qualities—are His names and attributes, without there being a multiplicity in His Essence—Exalted be He. The word "name" (ism) is used here in the sense of "attribute," an example of which is His saying: "And they attributed partners to Allah; say, 'Name them.'"

"The Most Beautiful" (al-husna) is the feminine form of "the most beautiful" (al-ahsan); a feminine singular adjective may be applied to broken plurals, and its beauty here lies in its occurrence as a verse-ending (fasilah). It has also been said that it contains an indication of the lack of multiplicity in reality, based on the principle that His attributes are not additions to His Essence, but are identical to it. The superiority of the names of Allah—Exalted be He—over all other names is extremely apparent.

Abu Hayyan permitted that the Majestic Name (Allah) be the subject (mubtada’), the sentence "There is no god but He" be its predicate, and the sentence "To Him belong the Most Beautiful Names" be a second predicate following the first. The outward manner of his work suggests his preference for this, as it is what comes most readily to mind; yet, for the one who contemplates, the primacy of the preceding view is not hidden.