And when He manifests Himself through the attributes of might and majesty, the tranquil soul offers up whatever humility it has attained before His greatness, brokenness before His power, submission to His grandeur, and the reverence of heart and limbs before Him. Serenity and dignity then envelop his heart, tongue, limbs, and whole demeanor, while his rashness, restless craving, and sharp temper simply melt away.

In sum, the Exalted One introduces Himself to the servant at times through the attributes of divinity and at other times through the attributes of lordship.

Witnessing the attributes of divinity kindles in him a special love, a longing to meet Him, intimacy and delight with Him, joy in serving Him, rivalry in drawing near to Him, courting His favor through obedience, incessant remembrance of Him, and flight from creation to Him—until He alone becomes the servant’s single preoccupation, to the exclusion of all else.

Witnessing the attributes of lordship, on the other hand, generates reliance upon Him, neediness toward Him, seeking His assistance, and humility, submission, and brokenness before Him.

The perfection of all this is for the servant to behold His lordship within His divinity and His divinity within His lordship; to perceive His praiseworthiness in His sovereignty, His might in His pardon, His wisdom in His decree and ordainment, His favor in His trial, His giving in His withholding; and to discern His beneficence, gentleness, kindness, and mercy in His sustaining governance. He sees His justice in His vengeance, His bounty and generosity in His forgiveness, veiling of faults, and indulgence; His wisdom and grace in His commands and prohibitions; His majesty in His pleasure and wrath; His forbearance in the respite He grants; His generosity in His turning toward the servant; and His absolute self-sufficiency in His turning away.

If, therefore, you ponder the Quran—safeguarding it from distortion and from judging it by the opinions of speculative theologians and the contrivances of the over-ingenious—it will present to you a King, the Ever-Sustaining, above His heavens, upon His Throne, directing the affairs of His servants: He commands and forbids, sends messengers and sends down the Scriptures, is pleased and angry, rewards and punishes, gives and withholds, honors and abases.