3هُوَ الأَوَّلُ وَالآخِرُ وَالظّاهِرُ وَالباطِنُ ۖ وَهُوَ بِكُلِّ شَيءٍ عَليمٌMuhammad AsadHe is the First and the Last,1 and the Outward as well as the Inward:2 and He has full knowledge of everything.I.e., His Being is eternal, without anything preceding His existence and without anything outlasting its infinity: an interpretation given by the Prophet himself, as recorded in several well-authenticated Traditions. Thus, "time" itself - a concept beyond man's understanding - is but God's creation.I.e., He is the transcendental Cause of all that exists and, at the same time, immanent in every phenomenon of His creation - cf. the oft-repeated Qur'anic phrase (e.g., in verse S), "all things go back unto God [as their source]"; in the words of Tabari, "He is closer to everything than anything else could be". Another - perhaps supplementary - rendering could be, "He is the Evident as well as the Hidden": i.e., "His existence is evident (zahir) in the effects of His activity, whereas He Himself is not perceptible (ghayr mudrak) to our senses" (Zamakhshari).