and you did not visit him? Had you gone to see him you would have found Me there with him. “My servant, I was hungry and you did not feed Me.” He will say, “My Lord, how could I feed You when You are the Lord of the worlds?” He will reply, “Did you not know that My servant so-and-so was hungry? Had you fed him, you would have found that with Me. “My servant, I was thirsty and you did not give Me drink.” He will say, “My Lord, how could I give You drink when You are the Lord of the worlds?” He will answer, “Did you not know that My servant asked you for water and you did not give it to him? Had you given him something to drink you would have found that with Me.”

Thus He treated His servant’s hunger as His own hunger and his illness as His own illness, because the servant is aligned with Allah in what He loves, approves, commands, and forbids—while it is clear that the Lord Himself neither hungers nor falls ill.

It is obvious that describing Him with hunger and sickness is even more remote from literal intent than describing Him as walking among people or mingling with them. Expressions of this kind abound in the words of the prophets and of others, elite and common alike, and no rational person imagines that the very essence of the one mentioned has fused with—or indwelt in—the other, except someone ignorant, like the Christians.

People see the sun, the moon, the stars, and so forth reflected in clear water, in a polished mirror, and similar surfaces. One of them may say, “I saw so-and-so’s face in this mirror,” or, “I saw the sun and the moon in the mirror or in the water,” while every rational person knows perfectly well that the actual