وَجاءَ رَبُّكَ وَالمَلَكُ صَفًّا صَفًّا

And your Lord[’s edict] shall arrive, with the angels in ranks.

EXEGESIS

Malak (angel) (pl. malāʾikah) is in the singular, however, it means the plural,^{‎[1]Qummi, 2/421.} since it is a collective noun,^{‎[2]Arabic-English Dictionary of Qur’anic Usage, p. 895.} meaning a word that has a collective meaning in its singular form. Hence it refers to the species of angels rather than an angel.^{‎[3]Gunabadi, 4/253.}

EXPOSITION

This verse is reminiscent of 69:16-18, 25:25-26, and 78:38. It denotes the second stage of the Day of Judgement after the first stage which is the stage of annihilation. The literal translation of this verse would be: And your Lord shall arrive, with the angels in ranks – but that gives an anthropomorphic meaning which is not possible for God. Imam al-Ṣādiq (a) was asked regarding 6:3, which reads: He is Allah in the heavens and on the earth. He explained: ‘Likewise, He is present in every place.’ The questioner asked: ‘Is He present by His very essence?’ The Imam retorted: ‘Woe be to you! Places are measured, defined, and determined entities [and thus created and limited in nature]. So if you said that He is present in a place by His very essence then that would necessitate His being situated in measured, defined, and determined entities [that are created and limited], while that is not so; rather, He is distinct from His creation yet totally cognisant of what He has created in knowledge and power, apprehension and authority.’^{‎[4]Burhan, 1/315.}

Tabatabai wrote that this verse is an example of the ambiguous verses of the Quran which require the application of the clear verses in order to understand them, such as 42:11 and 20:110. He further writes that the traditions explain this verse to mean the command of God, which is in conformity with various other verses such as 82:19 and 2:210, when the latter is paired with 16:33. Ali ibn al-Faḍḍāl narrates: ‘I asked Imam al-Riḍā (a) about the speech of God, And your Lord[’s edict] shall arrive, with the angels in ranks. He explained: “Indeed, God the mighty and the exalted is not described in terms of ‘coming’ and ‘going’. Far exalted is He from [being described and associated with physical] movement; rather, what is meant by the verse is: and your Lord’s edict (amr) shall arrive, with the angels in ranks.”’^{‎[5]Burhan, 5/656; Nur, 5/574.}

Consequently, Tabatabai echoes the same, writing that the noun rabb (Lord) is actually part of an implied possessive construct, which consists of a noun and its genitive, i.e. amru rabbika (the edict of your Lord). The noun ‘edict (amr)’ is elided while its genitive (Lord (rabb)) is retained. So the implied form of this verse would read: And your Lord’s edict shall arrive (wa jāʾa amru rabbika). Consequently, the meaning is to be understood by reconstructing the verse and bringing the elided noun ‘edict (amr)’ into play, thereby making the possessive construct complete. However, he also wrote that the attribution of movement to God may be understood to be a case of metaphor.^{‎[6]Mizan, 20/284.}

Rāzī writes the same and then suggests several alternatives for the elided noun such as ‘the command of the Lord for reckoning’, which is reported to have been the understanding of Hasan al-Baṣrī, Jubbāʾī, and Abū Muslim;^{‎[7]Tabrisi, 10/741.} ‘the manifestation of the signs and portents of God’s power and wrath’;^{‎[8]Al-Aṣfā fī Tafsīr al-Qurʾān, 2/1441; Tabrisi.J, 6/489.} ‘the majesty of the signs of God’ (6:158); and ‘the manifestation of the cognisance of God and the removal of any doubt and scepticism about Him’.^{‎[9]Razi, 31/159.}  

INSIGHTS FROM HADITH

1. In al-Iḥtijāj of Ṭabrisī there occurs the following tradition of Imam Ali (a) who said: ‘As for the verse, And your Lord[’s edict] shall arrive, with the angels in ranks, and Do they await anything but that the angels should come to them, or your Lord should come, or some of your Lord’s signs should come [6:158], all these [verses] are the truth, but God, exalted is His praise, does not have a body like that of His creation; rather, He is the Lord of everything and the [appropriate] perception and interpretation [by mankind] of the Lord of [every]thing in the book of God needs to be different from the literal sense [of the verses] revealed. It does not resemble the speech and acts of man. I will inform you of an example for that [i.e. for the correct interpretation and perception of God’s speech and acts], which shall, God-willing, suffice you. The example is God’s narration of the speech of Abraham (a) when he said: Indeed I am going toward my Lord [37:99], so his [i.e. Abraham’s (a)] going towards his Lord meant his directing himself towards God, his worship of [and supplication to] God, and his efforts in that regard. Do you [now] not see how the perception and interpretation of this verse is different to its literal sense? And God said: and He has sent down for you eight mates of the cattle [39:6], and He said: and We sent down iron, in which there is great might and uses for mankind [57:25], so the meaning of sending down in His speech means His creation of it. Similarly, the verse If the All-Beneficent had a son, I would have been the first to worship [him] [43:81] has the meaning of: I would have been the most zealous of all in worshipping him [but am not, because the All-Beneficent does not have a son]. So the interpretation of this speech lies in its inner implicit meaning which is contrary to its apparent sense.’^{‎[10]Nur, 5/74.}

[1] Qummi, 2/421.
[2] Arabic-English Dictionary of Qur’anic Usage, p. 895.
[3] Gunabadi, 4/253.
[4] Burhan, 1/315.
[5] Burhan, 5/656; Nur, 5/574.
[6] Mizan, 20/284.
[7] Tabrisi, 10/741.
[8] Al-Aṣfā fī Tafsīr al-Qurʾān, 2/1441; Tabrisi.J, 6/489.
[9] Razi, 31/159.
[10] Nur, 5/74.