Tafseer of Consultation · Ash-Shura · 42:12
To Him belong the keys of the heavens and the earth. He extends provision for whom He wills and restricts [it]. Indeed He is, of all things, Knowing.
Important: The Arabic source text is always authoritative. This translation is a study aid and has not been verified by scholars — do not use it as a basis for religious proof or for deriving rulings (ahkam). When in doubt, always consult the Arabic text and a qualified scholar.
The discourse on the explanation of His statement, the Exalted: لَهُ مَقَالِيدُ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالأَرْضِ يَبْسُطُ الرِّزْقَ لِمَنْ يَشَاءُ وَيَقْدِرُ إِنَّهُ بِكُلِّ شَيْءٍ عَلِيمٌ (42:12) (To Him belong the keys of the heavens and the earth. He extends provision for whom He wills and restricts it. Indeed, He has knowledge of all things. (12))
The Exalted, whose mention is exalted, means by His statement: لَهُ مَقَالِيدُ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالأرْضِ (To Him belong the keys of the heavens and the earth): to Him belong the keys of the treasuries of the heavens and the earth, and in His hand are the locks of good and evil and their keys. Whatever, then, He opens of mercy, none can withhold it, and whatever He withholds, none can release it thereafter.
And in terms similar to what we have said concerning this, the exegetes spoke.
* Mention of who said that:
Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to us, he said: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, he said: ʿĪsā related to us; and al-Ḥārith related to me, he said: al-Ḥasan related to us, he said: Warqāʾ related to us — both — on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid: لَهُ مَقَالِيدُ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالأرْضِ (To Him belong the keys of the heavens and the earth), he said: "Keys" in Persian.
Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, he said: Muḥammad ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of Qatāda: لَهُ مَقَالِيدُ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالأرْضِ (To Him belong the keys of the heavens and the earth), he said: The keys of the heavens and the earth. And on the authority of al-Ḥasan something similar.
Muḥammad related to us, he said: Aḥmad related to us, he said: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī: لَهُ مَقَالِيدُ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالأرْضِ (To Him belong the keys of the heavens and the earth), he said: The treasuries of the heavens and the earth.
And His statement: يَبْسُطُ الرِّزْقَ لِمَنْ يَشَاءُ وَيَقْدِرُ (He extends provision for whom He wills and restricts it), He says: He extends His provision and His bounty for whom He wills of His creatures, and gives him abundantly, and increases his wealth and makes him rich. And "He restricts it" (yaqdir), He says: and He straitens it for whom He wills of them, and narrows it for him and makes him poor. إِنَّهُ بِكُلِّ شَيْءٍ عَلِيمٌ (Indeed, He has knowledge of all things), He says: Indeed, Allah, blessed and exalted is He, has, concerning everything that He does — of His extending for whom He extends, and His narrowing for whom He narrows, and who of His creatures is improved by the extension of provision and who is corrupted by it, and who is improved by its narrowing and who is corrupted by it, and other matters — a knowledge that does not escape Him, so that there is not hidden from Him the place of extension and narrowing and all else, of what pertains to the right governance of His creation.
The Exalted, whose mention is exalted, says: To Him, then, to whom belong the keys of the heavens and the earth, whose attribute is what I have described to you in these verses, O people, direct yourselves in yearning, and Him worship sincerely, making religion pure for Him — not the idols and the gods and the false deities, which possess for you neither harm nor benefit.
