except through His power and assistance. Thus, in reality, none bears Him but He Himself. Likewise, when His servants call upon Him and He answers them, He—glorified is He—is the One who created them and created their supplications and actions. He therefore answers an action that He Himself created and enabled. The same applies when He rejoices at the repentance of a repentant servant, becomes angry at their sins, or other such matters that affirm a kind of change in response to His servants’ actions. Many theologians affirm this, with the majority of hadith scholars and others agreeing.

There are two difficult issues here: first, the inherence of temporal events in Him; and second, created beings affecting Him. The answer to the first issue is discussed elsewhere. The answer to the second is that there is no creator, originator, fashioner, or disposer of the affairs of earth and heaven but Him. There is no might or power except through Him, and whatever might and power His servants possess comes through Him—glorified is He. The matter thus comes back to this: He acts by His own agency—glorified and exalted is He—independent of all else.

These people say that what we have mentioned more perfectly expresses the attribute of independence