Al-Hashr (The Exile)

22. He is Allah, beside Whom none has the right to be worshipped but He, the Omniscient of the unseen and the seen. He is the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.

The recitation of the closing blessed Verses of the Chapter in question have been strongly recommended in traditions and different Blessings have been enumerated for the same instances of which include being absolved of sins and attaining to the elevated state of martyrs.¹

It is through the recitation of these blessed Verses that man may attend to the Divine Attributes mentioned herein and find the Greatest Name of God, since fifteen, and according to some exegetes eighteen, Divine Attributes have been mentioned in these blessed Verses each of which reflect His Boundless and Absolute Perfect Attributes.

The true object of worship is the Being Whose Omniscience, Graciousness, Sanctity, Glory, and Grandeur is Perfect and such Attributes solely belong to God Almighty. Therefore, there is no object of worship but Him. Thus, the blessed Verse is saying that He is the Lord besides Whom there is no other object of worship.

He is Omniscient of the seen and the unseen. He is the Most Gracious and the Most Merciful. The blessed Verse, above all, lays emphasis on monotheism as the basis of all His Positive and Negative Attributes as well as knowing God Almighty. Then, the blessed Verse proceeds to lay further emphasis on Divine Omniscience regarding the seen and the unseen.

In his Mufradat, Raghib says that presence (hudhur) is accompanied by observation, through the outward or inward eye. Thus, where human perception and observation penetrate, it is the world of presence and what lies beyond the realm of perception and observation is the world of the unseen or intuition.

It is worthy of note, however, that they are all equal before Divine Omniscience, since His Infinite Presence is Omnipresent.

Thus, nothing lies beyond Divine Omniscience and Omnipresence, as reflected elsewhere in the Holy Qur’an² :

“And with Him are the keys of the unseen, none knows them but He. And He knows whatever there is in the land and in the sea. Not a leaf falls, but He knows it. There is not a grain in the shadows of neither the earth nor anything fresh or dry, but it is written in a Clear Record.”

Attending to this Divine Attributes makes man aware of the fact that He is Omnipresent and Omniscient. Thus, man fear God Almighty and is aware that His Graciousness embraces all creatures particularly the believers.

Emphasis is laid on Divine Graciousness such that man sets his hope on treading the long path of perfection leading toward God Almighty being aware that he may not pass beyond the shadows and error without Divine Graciousness. Thus, besides, Divine Oneness, three other Divine Attributes are mentioned in the blessed Verse each of which leads to inspiration in some way or another.