{Praise and thanks be to Allah,} meaning, for His innumerable blessings upon His servants and for His exalted Attributes and most beautiful Names. And He commands him to send peace upon the servants of Allah whom He chose and selected, i.e., His noble Messengers and Prophets, may the best of peace and blessings from Allah be upon them. This was the view of 'Abdur-Rahman bin Zayd bin Aslam and others; the meaning of the servants He has chose is the Prophets. He said, "This like He said in the Ayah; {Glorified be your Lord, the Lord of honor and power! (He is free) from what they attribute unto Him! And peace be on the Messengers! And all the praises and thanks be to Allah, Lord of all that exists.} 37:180-182." Ath-Thawri and As-Suddi said, "This refers to the Companions of Muhammad may Allah be pleased with them all." Something similar was also narrated from Ibn 'Abbas, and there is no contradiction between the two views, because they were also among the servants of Allah whom He had chosen, although the description is more befitting of the Prophets. {Is Allah better, or what they ascribe as partners (to Him)?} This is a question aimed at denouncing the idolators for their worship of other gods besides Allah.

Some more Proofs of Tawhid
Then Allah begins to explain that He is the Only One Who creates, provides and controls, as He says: {Is not He Who created the heavens} meaning, He created those heavens which are so high and serene, with their shining stars and revolving planets. And He created the earth, with its varying heights and densities, and He created everything in it, mountains, hills, plains, rugged terrain, wildernesses, crops, trees, fruits, seas and animals of {Nay, but they are a people who ascribe equals (to Him)!} meaning, they describe others as being equal and comparable to Allah.