32- Allah, Exalted is He, says: “No soul knows what comfort for the eyes has been kept hidden for them” (32:17).

33- And He says in the sacred ḥadīth: “I have prepared for My righteous servants what no eye has ever seen, no ear has ever heard, and has never occurred to the human heart.” (1)

34- Thus, among His creatures some are “greater” in what people are able to know about them than others; but when it is said that He is greater than everything, no one shares that distinction with Him.

His explanation—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—of “Allāhu akbar”

35- In this vein the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—clarified the phrase when speaking to ʿAdiyy b. Ḥātim: “Does it bother you that it is said ‘Allāhu akbar’? Is there anything greater than Allah?” (2)

36- Accordingly, His knowledge is greater than every other knowledge, His power greater than every other power, and the same holds for all of His attributes.

37- As He says: “Say, ‘What thing is greatest in testimony?’ Say, ‘Allah is witness between me and you’” (6:19); His testimony, therefore, is the greatest of all testimonies.

38- This expression, then, establishes His supremacy over everything in every trait of perfection that He, glorified be He, has granted to created things.