The Mirror of the Excellences of Islam — Page 200
PREFACE FOOTNOTE 199 that carry everything that is spoken to the ears, and the angels who carry the Divine Word to the hearts. In this way, God Almighty has combined the angels and stars in one place in the verse: فَالْمُد براتِ آمران That is, in this verse, the seven planets have been mentioned as arrang- ing the affairs of whatever is in the earth externally and the angels are mentioned as arranging them internally. The commentary Fath-ul- Bayan sets forth both these views in two traditions on the authority of Mu'adh bin Jabal and Qushairī. Ibn Kathir has reported on the author- Meaning تُدَبِّرُ الْأَمْرَ مِنَ السَّمَاءِ إِلَى الْأَرْضِ. :ity of Hasan in relation to angels that that all arrangements that are carried out between heaven and earth are carried out through the means of angels. Ibn Kathir writes that this is an agreed doctrine the refers to angels. Ibn Jarir has interpreted the verse to mean that it refers to the angels, who carry out the arrangements of the universe. That is to say, that although on the surface, stars, the Sun, the Moon, and the ele- ments carry out their functions, yet in reality it is carried out by angels. Now that it is clearly established that by the Divine law of nature for the spiritual system there are- -like the physical system-external influences which are called mala'ikah [angels] in the Holy Quran, it remains to be proven that whatever is also happening in the physi- system is not determined and managed without the mediation of angels. The scriptural proof of that is obvious, because God Almighty has given the names mudabbirāt and muqassimāt [regulators and distributors] to angels and they are the means of the emergence and maintenance of all substances and their essence, to the extent that the cal 1. Surah an-Nazi'āt, 79:6 [Publisher]