Tafsir of Az-Zumar 39:62-63

{To Him belong the keys (maqālīd) of the heavens and the earth} Meaning: He is the Owner of their affairs and their Guardian. This is a metonymy (kināyah), for the one who guards the treasuries and manages their affairs is the one who possesses their keys. From this is the saying: "The keys (maqālīd) of the kingdom were cast to so-and-so," meaning the keys (mafātīḥ). It has no singular form derived from its own root. It is also said: miqlīd, iqlīd, and aqālīd. The word is originally Persian.

If you ask: "What is a clear Arabic Book doing with a Persian word?" I say: Arabization (ta‘rīb) has rendered it Arabic, just as usage brings a neglected word out of its state of neglect.

If you ask: "To what does the statement {And those who disbelieved} connect?" I say: It connects to His saying: {And Allah will save those who feared Him} (Az-Zumar: 61). That is: Allah will save the God-fearing by their success, while those who disbelieved are the losers. The intervening passage—that He is the Creator of all things and the Guardian over them—is an interruption, so that nothing of the deeds of the accountable in them, nor the recompense they deserve for them, is hidden from Him. It has also been connected to what follows it, meaning: Everything in the heavens and the earth, Allah is its Creator and the Opener of its gate, and those who disbelieved and denied that this is the case, they are the losers.

It is said: ‘Uthmān (may Allah be pleased with him) asked the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) about the interpretation of the Almighty’s saying: {To Him belong the keys of the heavens and the earth}. He replied: "O ‘Uthmān, no one has asked me about this before you. Its interpretation is: Lā ilāha illā Allāh (There is no god but Allah), Allāhu Akbar (Allah is the Greatest), Subḥān Allāhi wa bi-ḥamdihi (Glory be to Allah and His praise), Astaghfirullāh (I seek forgiveness from Allah), and Lā ḥawla wa lā quwwata illā billāh (There is no power nor strength except by Allah). He is the First and the Last, the Manifest and the Hidden; in His hand is all good; He gives life and causes death, and He is over all things competent."

Its interpretation according to this is: To Allah belong these words, by which He is affirmed in Oneness and glorified. They are the keys to the good of the heavens and the earth. Whoever among the God-fearing speaks them, he attains it. And those who disbelieved in the signs of Allah and the words of His Oneness and glorification, they are the losers.

{Say: "Is it other than Allah that you order me to worship, O ignorant ones?"}