وَلِلَّهِ مُلْكُ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ وَإِلَى اللَّهِ الْمَصِيرُ
To Allah belongs the kingdom of the heavens and the earth, and toward Allah is the destination.
EXPOSITION
As the surah has been explaining, God has not simply created and then abandoned His creation, but rather He has created with purpose and He oversees that creation and guides it towards its purpose. It is all His kingdom, which He manages and oversees. Everything in creation glorifies Him and God is aware of the glorification they perform. He is the high king, while also being close to each of His servants and all His creation.
To Allah belongs the kingdom of the heavens and the earth: all the angels in the heavens act as per His instructions and defer to Him in servitude; all kings on the earth rule merely by convention, it is only God who has true kingdom as He rules it with His absolute power over all things.
And toward Allah is the destination: this is not talking about the return to God on the Day of Judgement only, but rather foremost in the sense of all affairs and decrees being traced back to the Almighty, To Allah do all matters return (42:53).[1] In other words, all affairs emanate from Him and must return to Him for His final decree. He is the final authority who decides everything. This is also the meaning of kingdom that belongs to Him.
INSIGHTS FROM OTHER TRADITIONS
- Yours, Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty and the splendor, for everything in heaven and earth is yours. Yours, Lord, is the kingdom; you are exalted as head over all.[2]
- And the dust returns to the ground it came from, and the spirit returns to God who gave it.[3]
[1] See Mizan, 15/136.
[2] 1 Chronicles 29:11.
[3] Ecclesiastes 12:7.