Tafsir of Al Imran 3:163

"They are degrees in the sight of Allah..."

"They" (hum) refers to the individuals mentioned by the relative pronoun in terms of meaning, and it is the subject (mubtada'). The saying of Allah, Exalted is He, "degrees" (darajat) is its predicate. The intention is that they are varying in status, using the implication of the necessity (al-malzum) for the necessary (al-lazim), or likening them to steps (daraj) in their variation of elevation and descent by way of metaphor. Alternatively, it is to make them the very degrees themselves, as an exaggeration in describing their variation, thus becoming a refined simile (tashbih baligh) by omitting the particle of comparison.

It is said that the speech contains an elliptical noun (idhafah), meaning: "They possess degrees," that is, stations or varying conditions. This is the meaning of the statement of Mujahid and Al-Suddi: "For them are degrees." Some have argued that in this case, the verse employs the dominance (taghlib) of the "degrees" (of paradise) over the "depths" (of hell), for the former applies to the former and the latter to the latter.

"In the sight of Allah," meaning in His knowledge and His judgment. The adverbial phrase is connected to "degrees" according to the meaning, or to an elliptical expression acting as an adjective for it.

"And Allah is All-Seeing of what they do" of actions and their [varying] degrees, so He recompenses them according to them. "The All-Seeing" (al-basir), as the Proof of Islam (Al-Ghazali) said, is the One who witnesses and sees so that nothing beneath the soil escapes His notice. His seeing is also transcended above having a pupil or eyelids, and is sanctified from returning to the impression of images and colors within His Essence, as they are impressed upon the human pupil; for that is among the changes and affections that necessitate createdness (hadathan). When He is declared transcendent above that, "sight" in relation to Him, Exalted is He, is an expression for the attribute by which the perfection of the qualities of visible things is unveiled. This is clearer and more manifest than what we understand from the perception of sight, which is limited to the exteriors of visible things—end quote.

It is understood from this that "sight" is an attribute additional to "knowledge," which is the position held by the majority among us, the Mu'tazila, and the Karramiyya. They said: Because when we know something with clear knowledge and then see it, we find a difference between the two states intuitively, and that in the second state, there is an additional state which is "seeing."

The philosophers, Al-Ka'bi, Abu al-Husayn al-Basri, and Al-Ghazali (in one of his views)—and some claimed that his [Al-Ghazali's] aforementioned words point to this—argued that His seeing, Exalted is He, is an expression for His knowledge of visible things. A similar disagreement exists regarding "hearing." The truth is that both are attributes additional to the attribute of knowledge, and they are neither qualified nor limited. Affirming them is obligatory, just as He, Glorified is He, described Himself with them. To this, the Pious Predecessors (Salaf al-Salih) held, and it is that which brings expansion to the heart.