27إِلّا مَنِ ارتَضىٰ مِن رَسولٍ فَإِنَّهُ يَسلُكُ مِن بَينِ يَدَيهِ وَمِن خَلفِهِ رَصَدًاMuhammad Asadunless it be to an apostle whom He has been pleased to elect [therefor]:1 and then He sends forth [the forces of heaven] to watch over him in whatever lies open before him and in what is beyond his ken2Cf. 3:179 - "And it is not God's will to give you insight into that which is beyond the real of human perception: but [to that end] God elects whomsoever He wills from among His apostles".For an explanation of this rendering of the phrase min bayni yadayhi wa-min khalfihi (lit., "from between his hands and from behind him"), see note 247 on 2:255. In the present context the phrase implies that the very fact of his being graced by divine revelation protects every apostle, spiritually, in all concerns of his life, irrespective of whether these concerns are obvious to him or are beyond his ken.