And He said, “My servant continues to draw near to Me through voluntary acts of worship until I love him.” All of this makes it plain that Allah, Most High, is not identical with the servant, his limbs, or his faculties. Then He said:

“When I love him, I become his hearing with which he hears, his sight with which he sees, his hand with which he strikes, and his foot with which he walks. Through Me he hears, through Me he sees, through Me he strikes, and through Me he walks. If he asks Me, I will surely give him; and if he seeks My protection, I will surely protect him. I have never hesitated over anything I am going to do as I hesitate over taking the soul of My believing servant: he dislikes death, and I dislike causing him distress, yet he must undergo it.”

After saying, “I become his hearing and his sight,” and, “Through Me he hears, and through Me he sees,” He thus made it plain: “If he asks Me, I will surely give him; and if he seeks My protection, I will surely protect him.” Clearly, this explicitly establishes that the one asking and seeking protection is not the One whose protection is sought. Then He said:

“I have never hesitated over anything I am going to do as I hesitate over taking the soul of My believing servant: he dislikes death, and I dislike causing him distress.”

This explicitly states that he is His servant, that the Lord is neither a part of him nor an attribute of his, and that his soul is taken and he dies. It is well known that Allah is Ever-Living and does not die, let alone be a part or an attribute of someone who dies. For if the apparent meaning of the hadith were that Allah Himself is identical with the servant, his hearing, his hand, and his foot, these limbs would die when the person as a whole dies.