Rabbu almashriqi waalmaghribi la ilaha illa huwa faittakhithhu wakeelan
English
Ahmed Ali
He is the Lord of the East and the West. There is no god but He. So take Him alone as your protector.
9
Tafseer
'Abdullāh Ibn 'Abbās / Muḥammad al-Fīrūzabādī
تفسير : (lord of the east and the west) is allah; (there is no god save him; so choose you him alone for thy defender) worship him as a lord; it is also said this means: take him as a guardian regarding that which he promised you of help, supremacy and reward.
Jalāl al-Dīn al-Maḥallī
تفسير : he is, lord of the east and the west; there is no god except him, so take him for a guardian, entrusting your affairs to him,
Sahl al-Tustari
تفسير : …there is no god but him, so take him as your guardian.that is, as guarantor (al-kafīl) of the help that he has promised you in [obeying] his command,and the protection he has promised you in [avoiding] what he has forbidden, along with divinely-bestowed success (tawfīq) in [showing] gratitude, patience in the face of tribulation,and a laudable end.then he said:there is a paradise and a hellfire in this life. paradise ⸢is safety (ʿāfiya),⸣ and safety is that godtakes care of your affairs, and hellfire is tribulation (balwā). tribulation is when he leaves you in charge of your self. he was asked, ‘what is the (way to) relief (faraj)?’ he replied:do not hope for relief while you still look to what is created. there is not a servant who desired god with a genuine resolve (ʿazm ṣaḥīḥ), without everything vanishing from his [consciousness] besides him. moreover, there is not a servant from whom everything has vanished besides him, who does not deserve that god take charge of his affairs. [at the same time], there is not in this world a person who is [truly] obedient to god while he is [also] obeying his lower self, and no one becomes distanced from god except through engagement in that which is other than god.things only have access to someone who is idle (fārigh). however, evil suggestions (waswasa) will not reach a person whose heart is occupied with god; such a one is in [a state] of continuousincrease. so protect yourself through [adhering to] the principle (aṣl).he was asked, ‘and what is that [principle]?’ he answered;it is submission (taslīm) to god’s command, and freeing oneself (tabarrī) of all other than him.his words, exalted is he:
