The second verse contains the reminder of God’s own unity and then mentions the knowledge and witness of the angels and those with knowledge, so it says, “God bears witness that there is no god but He” and the angels and the learned too give witness in the same manner. It further says, the God stands firmly for justice and he rules on the base of justice (Adl). The implementation of justice requires two things, one is power and the second is knowledge so that justice can be manifest through knowledge and promulgate it through His powers. The verse ends by saying, “There is no god but He, the almighty, and the all-wise.”
The witness of the angels and the wise is evident but what is the meaning of God standing witness? There is a debate about this among the commentators. Some opine that it refers to the verbal as well as witness through deeds.
On the one hand God by creating the universe, the sky and the beings has demonstrated His greatness and on the other hand revealed the verses in the divine books declaring His oneness.
Some other commentators have said what is mentioned here is a greater witness and the meaning is evident in the verse and that witness is the important proof. For it says, “O He who is manifest and proven through himself” He is the proof because of His entity, this is what the proof of truths is about. Despite all of these meaning it cannot be denied that the witness here may mean personal witness, verbal witness and witness through deeds separately or all together.
Some have said that the justice in this universe and the arrangement and control themselves are a kind of witness on His behalf. This is a good argument (and according to the Al Mizan the witness of the angels and the wise adds nothing more to its meaning) and it does not affect the commonality in the meaning and vastness of the verse.
As we have mentioned earlier the implementation of justice is based on knowledge and control and both these attributes are present in God’s entity. At the end the verse mentions God as being almighty and all-wise.
