(54) “It is Allah who created you in a state of weakness, then after weakness gave you strength, then after strength gave you weakness and gray hair. He creates whatever He wills, and He is the All-Knowing, the All-Powerful.”

The Most High tells us of the vastness of His knowledge, the greatness of His power, and the perfection of His wisdom. He began the creation of human beings in weakness, during the earliest stages of their creation: from a sperm-drop, to a clinging clot, to a lump of flesh, until they became living beings in the womb and were then born. During childhood, a person is at ⦗645⦘ that time exceedingly weak and lacking in strength and ability. Allah then steadily increases his strength, little by little, until he reaches youth, his strength becomes fully developed, and his outward and inward faculties are perfected. He then passes from this stage and returns to weakness, gray hair, and decrepitude.

“He creates whatever He wills,” in accordance with His wisdom. Part of His wisdom is to show the servant his weakness: that his strength is surrounded by two states of weakness and that, of himself, he possesses nothing but deficiency. Were Allah not to strengthen him, he would never attain strength or ability; and if his strength continued to increase, he would become tyrannical, transgress, and act arrogantly.

This is also so that the servants may know the perfection of Allah’s power, which never ceases: by it He creates all things and governs all affairs, and it is never afflicted by weariness, weakness, or deficiency in any respect whatsoever.