Al-Qabid is the One Who controls the entire cosmos; in the following verse, He makes a
reference to His control over the earth: "... and the whole earth shall be in His grip on the Day
of Resurrection and the heavens rolled up in His right hand" (Qura'n, 39:67). The Almighty
has neither a right nor a left hand; He has no hands at all; this is only a figure of speech
denoting His total control over the heavens and the earth and everything in them. The
expansion of the earth is done by Him during the life of this world; says He, "Have We not
made the earth an even expanse?" (Qura'n, 78:6) meaning spread like a carpet. On the Day of
Judgment, the earth shall also be there, but it will look quite different from its present
appearance...; everything about how it will look and what will happen above and underneath
it is detailed in books of hadith, in traditions that will, God willing, see the light for the first
time in English..., but let us not digress here by borrowing from another book of mine soon,
Insha-Allah, to be written!
Al-Qabid receives the knowledge of and appreciates acts of charity; to be charitable is to be a
true servant of His, a blessed one. He says, "... Allah accepts repentance from His servants
and takes the alms" (Qura'n, 9:104). He straitens the hearts, that is, places heavy burdens on
them, burdens of woes and worries, of fears or of aspiration, and He also eases them.
- "Al-Basit"
Linguistically, "al-Basit" means: one who stretches his hand, be it as a gesture of good will
(in order to shake hands with someone else), or otherwise (to harm someone else, be it by
inflicting a physical harm on it, or by causing damage to his property or his own self). It may
be applied literally or metaphorically. The Almighty, for example, has quoted Cain son of
Adam saying the following to his brother Able: "If you stretch forth your hand towards me to
slay me..., etc." (Qura'n, 5:28). It also means: to please. According to one tradition, the
Messenger of Allah has said, "Fatima is part of me; whatever pleases her pleases me, and
whatever displeases her displeases me, too." Literally, it means: to relax the facial muscles in
order to express pleasure and happiness, elation or excitement; all other meanings branch out
of that. Inbisat, its noun, means, among other things, abandoning modesty. "Al-baseeta" is the
outstretched tract of land, and "bast" is: expansion or propagation.
Al-Basit is the One Who pleases the souls by making them happy and delighted. He is the
One Who plants the seeds of life in the bodies to signal the beginning of life therein. He, at
the advent of resurrection, brings life back to them in order to show people, in the life
hereafter, what they used to do during their temporary life in this world.