and lawful provision that helps put one’s religion aright. This is particular to the believers, who receive it in varying degrees as His wisdom and mercy require.

“The Judge, the Just”: He judges between His servants in this world and the Hereafter with justice and equity. He wrongs no one by even an atom’s weight, lays no one else’s burden of sin upon another, and never requites a servant beyond his offense. He restores rights to those entitled to them, leaving no claimant without his due. He is just in His governance and decree: “Indeed, my Lord is on a straight path.”

“The Gatherer of Mankind”: He will gather them for a Day about which there is no doubt. He gathers their deeds and provisions, leaving neither small nor great unrecorded. By His perfect power and vast knowledge, He will also gather whatever has become scattered or transformed of the dead from the earliest and latest generations.

“The Ever-Living, the Self-Sustaining”: His life is perfect, and He is self-subsisting. He sustains the inhabitants of the heavens and earth, governing them, providing for them, and directing all their affairs. Thus, “the Ever-Living” encompasses all attributes of essence, while “the Self-Sustaining” encompasses all attributes of action.

“The Light”: He is the Light of the heavens and earth. He illuminates the hearts of those who know Him with knowledge of Him and faith in Him, and illuminates their inmost hearts through His guidance. He is also the One who lit the heavens and earth with the lights He placed in them. His veil is light; were He to remove it, the radiant splendors of His Face would burn all of His creation as far as His sight reaches.

“The Originator of the Heavens and Earth”: that is, their Creator and Originator, who brought them forth in the utmost beauty, with wondrous creation and an astonishing, perfectly ordered design.

“The Withholder, the Expander”: He withholds provisions and takes souls, while He expands provisions and hearts. All this accords with His wisdom and mercy.

“The Giver, the Withholder”: No one can withhold what He gives, and no one can give what He withholds. All welfare and benefits are therefore sought from Him, and He alone is implored for them. He gives them to whomever He wills and withholds them from whomever He wills, in accordance with His wisdom and mercy.

“The Witness”: that is, the One fully aware of all things. He hears every voice, whether concealed or audible, and sees every being, whether minute or immense, small or great. His knowledge encompasses all things, and He bears witness for or against His servants regarding what they have done.

“The Originator, the Restorer”: Allah says, “And it is He who originates creation, then restores it.” He first created them to test which of them is best in deeds, then He will restore them to life to reward those who did good with the finest reward and requite evildoers for their evil. Likewise, He begins bringing created things into existence one after another and then continually restores them.

“The Doer of Whatever He Wills”: This stems from His perfect strength and the irresistible efficacy of His will and power. Whatever He wills, He does, with no one able to prevent or oppose Him. He has no supporter or even the slightest helper in any affair. Rather, when He wills something, He says to it, “Be,” and it is. Yet although He does whatever He wills, His will always accords with His wisdom and all that renders Him worthy of praise. He is therefore characterized by perfect power and an irresistible will, as well as by all-encompassing wisdom in everything He has done and will do.

“The Self-Sufficient, the Enricher”: He is self-sufficient in Himself, possessing complete and absolute self-sufficiency in every respect because of His perfection and the perfection of His attributes. No deficiency can affect Him in any way. He cannot but be self-sufficient, for His self-sufficiency is intrinsic to His essence, just as He cannot but be the Creator, the All-Powerful, the Provider, and the Beneficent. He stands in need of no one whatsoever. He is the Self-Sufficient One in whose hand are the treasuries of the heavens and earth and the treasuries of this world and the Hereafter. He enriches all His creation in a universal sense, and He enriches His chosen servants through the divine knowledge and realities of faith that He pours into their hearts.

“The Forbearing”: He continually showers His creation with outward and inward blessings despite their acts of disobedience and frequent lapses. He refrains from requiting sinners for their disobedience, invites them to return to what pleases Him so that they may repent, and grants them respite so that they may turn back to Him.

“The Appreciative, the Most Appreciative”: He appreciates even the smallest deed and forgives many lapses. He multiplies the deeds of the sincere without measure, rewards those who give thanks, and remembers those who remember Him. Whoever draws near to Him through any righteous deed,