He hears and He sees, gives and withholds, rewards and punishes, honours and humiliates, creates and provides, brings death and gives life, decrees, judges, and governs. Every affair, great or small, descends from Him and rises back to Him; not an atom moves without His permission, and not a leaf falls but that He knows it.

So reflect on how, in the Quran, He praises, extols, and magnifies Himself; counsels His servants, guides them to what brings them happiness and success, urges them toward it, and warns them against what will destroy them. He makes Himself known to them through His names and attributes, endeares Himself to them by His blessings and favours, reminds them of His bounties, and commands them with what perfects those bounties. He cautions them about His retribution, informs them of the honour He has prepared if they obey Him and the punishment He has readied if they disobey. He recounts His dealings with His friends and His enemies and shows how each group ultimately fared. He praises His friends for their righteous deeds and finest qualities, and censures His enemies for their evil deeds and vile traits. He sets forth parables, diversifies proofs and evidences, answers the objections of His foes with the best of replies, confirms the truthful, exposes the liar, speaks the truth, guides to the path, calls to the Abode of Peace and describes its qualities, beauty, and bliss; and He warns of the abode of ruin, describing its torment, ugliness, and pains. He reminds His servants of their poverty before Him and their utter need of Him in every respect—they cannot do without Him for the blink of an eye—and He declares His independence of them and of all creation: He alone is truly self-sufficient, while everything else is, in itself, needy of Him. No one attains so much as an atom’s weight of good except by His grace and mercy, and no one suffers an atom’s weight of evil except by His justice and wisdom.

One also perceives in His address the gentlest reproach of those He loves, and that, even so, He pardons their slips, forgives their missteps, accepts their excuses, rectifies their faults, and wards off harm.