• In the shifting of the winds are tremendous signs affirming Allah’s oneness and His exclusive possession of absolute perfection. Now they blow cold or hot or something in between, now from the south or the north, the east or the westerly (1) and every point between. At times they raise the clouds, at times they bind them together; at times they fertilize them and make them pour, at times they tear them apart and remove their harm. Sometimes they are sent as mercy, at other times as punishment. Who, then, directs them in this precise manner and attaches to them so many benefits for His servants except the Almighty, the All-Wise, the Most Merciful, the Most Subtle toward His slaves—the One alone deserving of their love, praise, gratitude, and thanks?
• And in the subjugation of the clouds between heaven and earth: though they are light and delicate, they bear vast quantities of water. Allah drives them wherever He wills, making them a source of life for land and people alike. By them He waters the hilltops and the valleys, sends the rain down upon creation at the very moment of need, and wards off from them its potential harm. He sends it as mercy and kindness, channels it with care and compassion. How magnificent is His dominion, how abundant His generosity, how subtle His beneficence!
Is it not the very height of ugliness and the darkest form of injustice that people enjoy His provision and live by His bounty, yet use those very gifts to aid them in what angers Him and in acts of disobedience? Even so—out of the perfection of His forbearance, pardon, and clemency—He continues to lavish goodness upon them: His favor is forever descending to them, while their evil deeds are constantly ascending to Him.
• In sum: whenever a rational person reflects on these creatures and lets his mind delve into the marvels of existence, he realizes that they were created in truth and for the sake of truth; that they are pages filled with signs and books overflowing with proofs, pointing to everything Allah has informed us about His own self and His oneness, and to all that the messengers have conveyed concerning the Last Day. He sees that these beings are managed and subjugated, possessing no power of their own and incapable of resisting the One who governs and directs them. He thus comes to know that every creature in the higher and lower realms stands in absolute need of Him and turns toward Him, while He alone is intrinsically free of need from all creation. There is no deity but He, and no lord besides Him.