Say, "Who provides for you from the heaven and the earth? Or who controls hearing and sight and who brings the living out of the dead and brings the dead out of the living and who arranges [every] matter?" They will say, "Allah," so say, "Then will you not fear Him?"
{ Say: Who provides for you from the heaven and the earth? }
Meaning: Who provides for you from both of them together? He did not limit the provision to one source, so that He might pour His blessings upon you and expand His mercy.
{ Or who controls hearing and sights? }
Who is capable of creating them and fashioning them to the precise degree of wondrous nature upon which they were fashioned? Or, who protects and fortifies them against ailments, despite their abundance over long periods, even though they are delicate and the slightest thing can harm them, through His guardianship and preservation?
{ And who brings forth the living from the dead and brings forth the dead from the living? }
And who manages the affairs of the entire world? He brought the general after the specific.
{ So will you not fear? }
Will you not protect yourselves and be wary of His punishment regarding the misguidance you are currently engaged in?
{ For that is Allah, your Lord, the Truth. }
This is a reference to the One whose power and actions are as described. He is your Lord, the Truth, whose Lordship is established with a certainty that leaves no doubt for those who examine it critically.
{ And what is there after the truth except error? }
Meaning that there is no middle ground between truth and error; whoever steps beyond the truth falls into error.
{ So how are you averted? }
From the truth to error, from monotheism to polytheism, and from felicity to misery.
{ Thus, the word of your Lord has come into effect }
Just as it has been established and proven that after the truth there is only error, or just as it has been established that they are averted from the truth, so too has the word of your Lord come into effect.
{ upon those who defiantly disobeyed }
Meaning those who rebelled in their disbelief and crossed into its extreme limits.
{ that they will not believe }
This is a substitute for "the word," meaning the negation of faith has been established against them, and Allah knew this of them. Or, the word of Allah has been established against them that they are among the people of abandonment and that their faith will not come to pass. Or, He intended by "the word" the promise of punishment, and "that they will not believe" is a justification, meaning: because they will not believe.
{ Say: Is there of your "partners" one who begins creation and then repeats it? Say: Allah begins creation and then repeats it. So how are you deluded? }
{ Say: Is there of your "partners" one who guides to the truth? Say: Allah guides to the truth. So is He who guides to the truth more worthy to be followed or he who does not guide unless he is guided? Then what is [wrong] with you—how do you judge? }
