Govern Affairs
\r\n Al-Naziat (The Wresters) - Chapter 79: Verses 1-5
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"By those that wrest violently, by those that draw out quickly, by those that glide serenely, by those that race to the fore, outstripping, and by those that govern affairs."
Regarding the varying interpretations for these verses as referring to different types of angels, different modes of death, or different types and phases of stars and/or other celestial bodies, among other things, al-Tabari says that they can be seen as a reference to all of these, for God is swearing by everything that exhibits the characteristics mentioned in these verses.
\r\nAl-Razi advises that we cannot say any of the interpretations are what is meant by God, but that we can say they are possible. He adds another interpretation in which these verses represent five phases in the return of the heart from what is other than God to God: "Those that wrest (al-naziat) are the spirits that move toward (tanziu ila) attachment to the most unfailing handhold [2:256; 31:22], or who are being wrested from the love of what is other than God. Those that draw out quickly (al-nashitat nasht) means that, after the return from bodily things, [the spirits] take to striving and assuming the character traits of God with utter zeal (nishat) and great strength. Those that glide serenely is then that, after striving, [the spirits] 'glide' in the realm of sovereignty, such that they cross these oceans and swim therein. Those that race to the fore, outstripping is an allusion to the variegation of spirits in the degrees of their journey unto God, and those that govern affairs is an allusion to the connection between the last levels of humanness and the first degrees of angelhood. So when the human spirits reach their farthest limit, which is the level of outstripping, they connect to the world of angels, which is what is meant by those that govern affairs.
\r\nCompiled From:
\r\n \"The Study Quran: A New Translation and Commentary\" - Seyyed Hossein Nasr