—one who is weak, helpless, and deficient in every respect—on the same level as the Creator, the Sustainer, the All-Powerful, who has subdued all things and before whom every neck bends in submission.

• In this verse, the oneness of the Originator and His sole right to be worshipped are affirmed by denying that right to anyone else among creation, and this is argued for by His unique mercy, from which flow every form of goodness and beneficence in this world and the hereafter. Allah then sets out the detailed proofs, saying: