Surah Al-Mu’min, Footnote No. 23

That is, His station is immeasurably higher than all created beings. No being existing in this universe — whether angel, prophet, saint, or any other creature — however exalted and noble its station may be compared to other creatures, can even be conceived of as being close to Allah’s highest station, let alone being imagined as sharing in His divine attributes and powers.

Surah Al-Mu’min, Footnote No. 24

That is, He is the King and Ruler of the entire universe, the Owner of the throne of sovereignty over the universe. (For further explanation, see Volume 2, pages 36, 262, 441; Volume 3, page 87.)

Surah Al-Mu’min, Footnote No. 25

“The Spirit” here refers to revelation and prophethood (for explanation, see Volume 2, pages 524, 639), and the statement that Allah sends down this Spirit upon whichever of His servants He wills means that no one has a monopoly on Allah’s grace. Just as no one has the right to object as to why a certain person was given beauty and another was given an extraordinary memory or intelligence, likewise no one has the right to object as to why a particular person was chosen for the office of prophethood, and why someone else, whom they themselves would have preferred, was not made a prophet.

Surah Al-Mu’min, Footnote No. 26

That is, the day when all humans, jinn, and devils will be gathered together before their Lord at one and the same time, and all the witnesses to their deeds will also be present.

Surah Al-Mu’min, Footnote No. 27

That is: in the world, many self-deluded people kept beating the drum of their own kingship and tyranny, and many fools kept acknowledging their sovereignty and greatness — now tell, to whom does sovereignty truly belong? Who is the real owner of authority? And whose command actually runs? This is a theme which, if a person listens to it attentively, would make his blood run cold and drain every trace of tyranny from his mind, however great a king or absolute ruler he may have made himself. In this connection, a historical incident is worth mentioning: when Nasr ibn Ahmad, ruler of the Samanid dynasty (301–331 AH), entered Nishapur, he held a court, and upon taking his seat on the throne, requested that the proceedings begin with a recitation of the Qur’an. Hearing this, an elderly man came forward and recited this very passage. When he reached this verse, Nasr was overcome with awe — trembling, he descended from the throne, removed his crown, fell in prostration, and said, “O Lord, sovereignty is Yours, not mine.”

Surah Al-Mu’min, Footnote No. 28

That is, no injustice of any kind will occur. It should be understood that in matters of recompense, injustice can take several forms: first, that a person deserves reward and is not given it; second, that he is given less reward than he deserves; third, that he does not deserve punishment but is punished anyway; fourth, that one who deserves punishment is not punished; fifth, that one who deserves punishment is given more punishment than he deserves; sixth, that the wronged party is left watching while the wrongdoer is clearly exonerated before his very eyes; seventh, that one person is seized for another’s sin. The purport of Allah’s statement is that not one of all these forms of injustice will be allowed to occur in His court.

Surah Al-Mu’min, Footnote No. 29

The meaning is that Allah will take no time at all in settling the reckoning. Just as He provides sustenance to every creature in the universe simultaneously, without being so occupied with providing for one that He has no time left to provide for others; just as He watches everything in the universe at one and the same time, hears all voices simultaneously, and manages all matters, however small or great, all at once, with nothing so absorbing His attention that He cannot attend to other things at the same time — in the same way, He will call every single individual to account simultaneously, and hearing one case will not so occupy Him that He cannot hear countless other cases at the same time. Nor will there be any delay in His court due to difficulty in investigating the facts of a case or in producing evidence for it — the Judge of that court will Himself be directly aware of all the facts; every party to the case will stand completely exposed before Him; and clear, undeniable evidence of events, down to the smallest details, will be presented without delay. Hence every case will be decided instantly.