Tafsir of Ta-Ha 20:5-6

[The Grammatical Reading of "Al-Raḥmān"] It has been read as al-Raḥmāni (in the genitive case), as an adjective for [the One] "who created" (man khalaqa). However, the nominative case (al-Raḥmānu) is better, because it is either:

1. Nominative by way of praise, with the implied meaning: "He is the Most Merciful."
2. Or it is an initial subject (mubtadaʾ), with its definite article referring to "the One who created."

[The Syntactic Position of the Sentence] If you ask: "What is the position of the sentence 'He is established above the Throne' (ʿalā al-ʿarshi istawā) if you read al-Raḥmān in the genitive or nominative by way of praise?" I reply: If you read it in the genitive, it is the predicate of a deleted subject, and nothing else. If you read it in the nominative, it is permissible for it to be the same, or for it and al-Raḥmān to be two predicates for the [initial] subject.

[The Meaning of "Istawā ʿalā al-ʿarsh"] Since establishment upon the throne—which is the seat of kingship—is something that follows kingship, they made it a metonymy (kināyah) for kingship. They say, "So-and-so established himself upon the throne," intending [to convey] his kingship, even if he never sat upon the seat at all. They also use it because of its fame in that meaning and its equivalence to "kingship" in its implication, even if it is more descriptive, expansive, and indicative of the nature of the matter.

Similar to this is your saying: "So-and-so’s hand is outstretched," or "So-and-so’s hand is shackled," meaning he is generous or stingy. There is no difference between the two expressions except in what I have mentioned. Even if someone has never outstretched his hand with a gift, or has no hand at all, it is said of him, "His hand is outstretched," because it is equivalent in their view to saying, "He is generous."

From this is the saying of Allah, the Almighty and Majestic: "The Jews said, 'The hand of Allah is shackled'" (al-Māʾidah: 64)—meaning He is stingy—"Rather, His two hands are outstretched" (al-Māʾidah: 64)—meaning He is generous—without imagining a hand, a shackle, or an outstretching. Interpreting it as "blessing" and straining to explain the duality [of the hands] is a result of the narrowness of [the ability to] refute and is a journey of years away from the science of rhetoric (ʿilm al-bayān).

["And what is beneath the soil"] It is beneath the seven earths. According to Muḥammad ibn Kaʿb and al-Suddī: It is the rock that is beneath the seventh earth.

7. {And if you speak aloud, then indeed He knows the secret and what is even more hidden. Allah—there is no deity except Him. To Him belong the best names.}