لَهُ مُلكُ السَّماواتِ وَالأَرضِ ۚ وَإِلَى اللَّهِ تُرجَعُ الأُمورُ

To Him belongs the kingdom of the heavens and the earth, and to Allah all matters are returned.

EXEGESIS

Verses similar to this occur frequently in the Quran. The opening words, To Him belongs the kingdom of the heavens and the earth are repeated from verse 2 earlier, but now with a different ending: and to Allah all matters are returned (also in 2:210, 3:109, 8:44, 11:123, 22:76, 35:4, 42:53) to emphasise the return to God (al-maʿād). Those who deny God and His control over the universe will not be able to do so after their return to God and on the Day of Resurrection (40:16).

According to Tabatabai, the words to Allah are given instead of using a pronoun, such as ‘to Him’, and the same is also done for the previous verse, and Allah sees, perhaps to impact the hearts with greater realisation and zeal. This style of substituting a pronoun for God with His name ‘Allah’ will be seen recurrently in verses where matters like the Day of Resurrection, God’s favours, and the encouragement to spend in God’s way are discussed (cf. verses 9-10, 21, 25, 29).^[1]

EXPOSITION

From verse 7 onwards, the surah will encourage the faithful to spend in God’s way. As a prelude, this verse reminds the faithful that whatever they are custodians of, from which they will be asked to spend, is from God, and, to Him belongs the kingdom of the heavens and the earth, meaning He is the only true owner of everything in existence and others are merely temporary custodians, inheriting from one another until eventually all is left with no heir, and to Allah all matters are returned.

There is no choice for anyone but to return to God, from whom they originate and continuously depend for their very existence. Death does not remove this dependence and, in fact, even in this world, all of creation is, at all times, returning and journeying towards Him, as given in a very similar verse – 42:53 – that uses taṣīr al-umūr instead of turjʿa al-umūr to describe the return of all matters. Taṣīr suggesting a journey from one state (ḥāl) to another, where transformation occurs, until one arrives at a final destination to rest.^[2] Numerous verses end with its derivative maṣīr, such as and toward Him is the destination (maṣīr) (42:15, and more); hell, and it is an evil destination (maṣīr) (4:97, 66:9, and more). Also see verse 15 for a more detailed exposition on the difference between masīr in the simple sense of travel and destination, versus maṣīr (with the heavier letter ṣād) that implies an arrival after evolution and transformation to one’s final destiny.

[1] Mizan, 19/147.
[2] Raghib, ṣ-y-r.