1.“Everything will perish, save His Face.” (The Quran 28:88)
From the interpretation of Ibn Kathīr: And God, the Most High's statement that “Everything will perish save His Face” shows that He is the Eternal, the Everlasting, the Ever-Living and the Self-Existent, who does not die while all of creation will die. As God, the Most High said “Everything on this earth will perish, but forever will abide he Face of your Lord, full of Might and Glory”, and ‘Face’ denotes the Being (of Allāh).
And similarly, God's statement that “Everything will perish save His Face” means that every being will perish except His Being.
Mujāhid and Al-Thawrī said regarding His statement “Everything will perish save His Face” that everything will perish except the acts that are done for seeking His pleasure.
Every being is bound to perish and is impermanent - except for His Being, Most High and Holy. For He is the First and the Last, and He was before and is after everything else.
From Tafsīr Al-Tabarī: And there has been disagreement regarding the meaning of “save His Face”. Some said that it means everything other than Allāh will perish, while others said that it means everything except the acts that are done seeking His pleasure, will perish.
From Tafsīr Al-Qurtubī: Mujāhid said it meant everything save Allāh will perish.
Al-Sādiq (Imam Ja’far) said that it meant everything except for Divinely guided religion.
Abu Al-’Aliyah and Sufyān (Al-Thawrī) said that it meant everything will perish except the acts that are done seeking Him, i.e. seeking closeness to Him.
Muhammad bin Yahyā reported that Al-Thawrī said: “I asked Abā ‘Ubaydah regarding the Statement ‘everything will perish save His face’ and he replied: ‘except His Glory.’”
2.
“We feed you, for the Face of Allāh only. We wish for no reward nor thanks from you.” (The Quran 76:9)
From Tafsīr Ibn Kathīr: “We feed you seeking Allāh’s Face only” means seeking the reward of Allāh and His pleasure.
From Tafsīr Al-Tabarī: Seeking the pleasure of Allāh, and nearness to Him.
From Tafsīr Al-Qurtubī: Warding off the punishment of Allāh, and desiring reward from Him.
3.
“All that is on earth will perish, but will remain the Face of your Lord, full of Might and Glory.” (The Quran 55:27)
From interpretation of Al-Qurtubī: It means that what will remain is Allāh, for the ‘Face’ is a phrase used to denote His presence and His Being, the Perfection.
This is the explanation preferred by the verifiers from our scholars: Ibn Fawrak, Abu Al-Ma’ālī and other.
Ibn ‘Abbās said: “The ‘Face’ is a phrase used to denote Allāh Himself, as He said: ‘but still remain the Face of your Lord, full of Might and Glory.’”
Abu Al-Ma’ālī said: “As for His ‘Face’, then what it means according to the overwhelming majority of our imams is the Presence of God, the Maker of Order, Most High.
and God alone knows the best what is the most esoteric and mystical.
credit: posted by Ibn Saad in Seeking Ilm site, with Special Thanks toTilmeedh of Sunniforum
# Reference: Tafsir (meaning interpretation) is the science of Quranic exegesis or commentary
. Al Tafsir
. Sufi Tafsir : Qur'an Commentary from Mystical perspective
. Naqshbandi Tafsir of selected chapters of Holy Quran
. Online Resources of tafsir
. An Introduction to the Science of Tafsir | Mufti Shafi Uthmai
. The Earliest of Qur'anic Commentaries
. Tafsir via Islam from Inside
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