"And no five but He is the sixth of them"—an allusion to those five whom the second [caliph] appointed to be with our Master,

the Commander of the Faithful, in the deliberation of opinions and consultation regarding the appointment of one of them as Caliph for the Muslims: namely Talha, Uthman, Abd al-Rahman bin 'Awf, Abu 'Ubayda, and al-Zubayr. Our Master was the fourth of the three and the sixth of these five. This is from a specific perspective. From a general perspective, He—glorified be He—is the third of two, the fourth of three, and the sixth of five; He encompasses all things, nothing is hidden from Him, and nothing escapes His knowledge, just as He said—and this statement of His was recorded in the book Yanabi' al-Mawadda:

And I am the Maintainer (Qayyum) over every maintainer,

Encompassing all the worlds, All-Knowing.