anything, nor does He become divided. He is, moreover, One, without equal. This indicates His affirmative attribute, namely His being al-Samad, as well as His having no equal, which rules out His having a parent or child. Likewise, His being One rules out anything resembling Him, whether a progenitor, an offspring, or a peer. This meaning therefore answers their question: He does not originate from anything, nothing issues from Him, and He is not of the same kind as anything.

Sixth: That al-Samad is the One to whom people turn in their needs is also true; it confirms and points to the first interpretation. It does not contradict His being, in Himself, whole and without a hollow interior. Rather, His being thus in Himself is precisely what necessitates people’s need of Him. For need of something derives from its possessing, in itself, qualities that necessitate its fulfillment of needs. The effect, therefore, is not incompatible with its cause, nor is a thing incompatible with what it necessarily entails. Rather, the necessary effect