Al-Mīzān’s Explanation of “The Truth from your Lord”

ʿAllāma Ṭabāṭabāʾī states:

The phrase “The Truth from your Lord”, if the word “The Truth” is considered the subject and “from your Lord” the predicate, is among the most eloquent Qur’anic expressions. However, if “The Truth from your Lord” is the predicate for an omitted subject, the meaning becomes: the story of Jesus (a.s.) that we have narrated is truth, although at the end of the story it also states: “This is indeed the true account, and there is no god except God, and indeed God is the Mighty, the Wise”(648)

The elegance of the Qur’anic expression lies in its exclusive form: “The Truth from your Lord”; meaning every truth is from God and emanates and manifests from Him, and He alone is the source of truth. It does not say “the truth with your Lord,” because “with” indicates duality, accompaniment, and implies partnership.(649)

Yes, God is with everything: “He is with you wherever you may be”(650) but God’s accompaniment is unilateral, not bilateral where something would be with God. Such unilateral accompaniment can also be seen in concepts; for example, in the statement “Zayd is human,” the universal can be predicated of the particular (predication equals unity), but only unilaterally. Thus, one can say “Zayd is human” but cannot say “human is Zayd,” because this universal or absolute exists in other particulars as well, while Zayd, who is restricted, is not present there.

On this basis, one can say “He is with you wherever you may be”, but one cannot say “you are with God wherever He may be,” because God accompanies contingent beings in the station of manifestation and sustaining accompaniment, but contingent beings are not with Him. Thus, nothing is with God; if something is false, it is neither with God nor from God, and if something is truth, it is not with God but is from God.

One cannot say “truth is with God,” because that truth which is with God is either necessary or contingent. On one hand, based on the proof of divine unity (tawḥīd), it cannot be necessary, and on the other hand, the contingent is not “with God” but rather “from God.” In other words, if truth is assumed to exist opposite to God, it would be limited truth, not absolute truth; and limited truth is God’s action, not His essence; and since it is His action, it is from God, not with Him. Yes, this accompaniment can exist in contingent beings, like “Ali is with truth and truth is with Ali, rotating with him wherever he rotates”,(651) because contingent beings can accept partnership.

In summary: First, pure and unlimited truth is God’s sacred essence; second, the truth that is God’s action and His manifestation has degrees, and its highest degree is the blessed existence of the noble Prophet (s.a.w.) and the pure family (a.s.); third, each higher degree of divine grace is the guardian and overshadows the lower degree.

Based on these premises, any kind of truth in terms of belief, creation, action, rulings, and wisdom in the contingent world is primarily and essentially from God, and at the lower level, it is secondarily or accidentally from the People of the Household (a.s.). If some degree of truth is in harmony with the People of the Household (a.s.) themselves, one can say “truth is with the People of the Household,” because in the contingent world, as mentioned, partnership is conceivable.