Surah Saba: (24) Say, "Who provides for you..."

Then the Almighty said: {Say, "Who provides for you from the heavens and the earth?"}

We have mentioned repeatedly that the common people worship Allah not because He is God (worthy of worship), but because they seek something through Him—either the removal of harm or the attainment of benefit.

Allah the Almighty alerts the common people with His saying: {Say, "Call upon those you claim [besides Him]"} (Saba: 22) to the fact that no one can repel harm except Him, just as He Almighty said: {And if Allah should touch you with harm, none can remove it except Him} (Al-An'am: 17; Yunus: 107).

After completing this clarification, He said: {Say, "Who provides for you from the heavens and the earth?"} This indicates that the attainment of benefit is also only from Him and through Him.

Therefore, if you are among the elite (Khawass), worship Him for His loftiness and majesty, whether He repels harm from you or not, and whether He benefits you with good or not. If you are not like that, then worship Him for the repulsion of harm and the attainment of benefit.

Then the Almighty said: {Say, "Allah."} This means, if they do not say it, then you say: "Allah provides."

There is a subtlety here: When people are afflicted with harm, Allah mentions that they say "Allah" and confess the truth, as He said: {They said, "The truth."} However, regarding benefit, He did not mention that they say that. This is because in times of distress, they acknowledge that the repeller of harm is Allah, as He Almighty said: {And when adversity touches people, they call upon their Lord, turning to Him in repentance} (Ar-Rum: 33). But during ease, they are heedless of this fact, which is why He said: {Say, "Allah."} Meaning, in times of ease, they are heedless of Allah.

Then the Almighty said: {And indeed, either we or you are upon a guidance or are in manifest error.}

There are several issues concerning this verse:

This is guidance from Allah to His Messenger regarding debates conducted in sciences and other matters. This is because when one debater tells another, "What you are saying is wrong, and you are mistaken in it," it angers the other person. When angry, sound thinking ceases, and when thinking is impaired, there is no hope for understanding, thus the objective is missed.

However, if one says to the opponent, "We both doubt that we are correct, and persisting in falsehood is ugly, while returning to the truth is the best of manners. So let us strive and see which of us is in error so that we may guard against it." Then that opponent will strive in consideration and abandon fanaticism. This approach does not imply a deficiency in status because he implied that he was doubtful in his statement. This is supported by Allah's saying to His Prophet: {And indeed, either we or you...} even though he (the Prophet) had no doubt that he was the guide, the rightly guided, and they were the misguided ones.

Regarding His saying: {upon a guidance or are in manifest error.} The word 'ala (upon/on) is mentioned concerning guidance, while the word fi (in) is mentioned concerning error. This is because the guided person is as if elevated and looking upward, so the word 'ala is used. The misguided person is immersed and drowning in darkness, so the word fi is used.

Error is described as mubīn (manifest), while guidance is not described that way. This is because guidance is the straight path leading to the truth, and error is its opposite. However, the straight path is singular, while everything that is not it is error, and some errors are more manifest than others. Thus, some errors are distinguished from others by this description.

Guidance is mentioned before error because it describes the believers mentioned by the pronoun naḥnu (we), and "we" is mentioned first in the discourse.

Then the Almighty said: {Say, "You will not be asked about what we have committed, nor will we be asked about what you do."}