The Quran

117

ما قُلتُ لَهُم إِلّا ما أَمَرتَني بِهِ أَنِ اعبُدُوا اللَّهَ رَبّي وَرَبَّكُم ۚ وَكُنتُ عَلَيهِم شَهيدًا ما دُمتُ فيهِم ۖ فَلَمّا تَوَفَّيتَني كُنتَ أَنتَ الرَّقيبَ عَلَيهِم ۚ وَأَنتَ عَلىٰ كُلِّ شَيءٍ شَهيدٌ

Muhammad Asad

Nothing did I tell them beyond what Thou didst bid me [to say]: 'Worship God, [who is] my Sustainer as well as your Sustainer.' And I bore witness to what they did as long as I dwelt in their midst; but since Thou hast caused me to die, Thou alone hast been their keeper:¹ for Thou art witness unto everything.

The definite article in anta'r-raqib expresses God's exclusiveness in His function as raqib ("keeper"), and can only be rendered by an interpolation of the (elliptically implied) word "alone". Similar expressions relating to God are very often met with in the Qur'an - e.g., at the end of the next verse.