his actions, then he is in need of that other and is no longer self-subsisting; how much more so, therefore, for one who eats and drinks! Whoever eats or drinks is hollow within, whereas the solid, Self-Sufficient Refuge (al-Ṣamad) is more perfect than the eater and drinker. For this reason the angels are described as ṣamad: they neither eat nor drink.

We have already noted that every perfection affirmed for a created being is even more befitting of the Creator, and every defect from which a creature is declared free must, a fortiori, be negated with respect to the Creator. Revelation dismisses such imperfections in many passages, as in His saying, “Allah is al-Ṣamad” — al-Ṣamad being the One who has no cavity and who neither eats nor drinks. This surah, therefore, has been called the pedigree of the All-Merciful,