THE BEGINNING and the end of this surah stress the reality of divine revelation, and the fact that all prophets,at all times, preached one and the same essential truth - namely, the existence and oneness of God - and the same ethical principles: either of which makes it imperative that all believers in the One God, whatever their historical "denomination", should regard themselves as "one single community" (see verse 13 and the corresponding note 14, as well as verse 15). Hence, all divisive speculations about the "nature" of God are "null and void in their Sustainer's sight" (verse 16), because "there is nothing like unto Him" (verse 11), and, therefore, nothing by which to define Him. And because God is undefinable and unfathomable, man cannot grasp even the real nature of His activity beyond the fact that He has imposed on all creation the law of cause and effect - so that in the life to come man will only harvest "what his own hands have wrought" in this world. The key-word by which this surah has always been designated is derived from the phrase shura baynahum ("consultation among themselves") in verse 36, outlining one of the basic social principles which ought to characterize the community of true behevers.