over anything they have earned.” He, Most High, also says:

“And We will turn to whatever deeds they have done and make them scattered dust.”

He, Most High, also says:

“Everything will perish except His Face.”

As has been said in explanation of this verse, every deed is worthless except what is done seeking His Face. Whoever acts for someone other than Allah and places his hope in him will find his efforts fruitless. A person may express his hope by performing deeds for the one in whom he places his hope, or by relying upon him in his heart, turning to him for refuge, and asking of him. The former is a kind of worship of him, while the latter is a kind of seeking his help. He, Most High, has said:

“You alone we worship, and You alone we ask for help.”

He also says:

“So worship Him and put your trust in Him.”

And He says:

“Say, ‘He is my Lord; there is no deity worthy of worship except Him. In Him I put my trust, and to Him I turn in repentance.’”

This is further clarified by the fact that every good thing and blessing that reaches the servant comes only from Allah. Every evil and calamity that is warded off from him or lifted from him is prevented only by Allah and removed only by Allah. Even when the means by which these things come about operate through His creatures, Allah, glorified be He, is the Creator of all those means. This applies whether the means consist of the movement of a living being acting by its own choice and intention—as with what He, Most High, brings about through the movements of angels, jinn, human beings, and animals—or the movement of an inanimate thing through the natural properties Allah has placed within it or through an external force that compels it to move, as with the movement of winds, waters, and the like. Allah is the Creator of all of this. There is no might or power except through Him. Whatever He wills comes to pass, and whatever He does not will does not come to pass.

All hope must therefore be placed in the Lord, all trust in Him, and all supplication directed to Him. If He wills something and facilitates it, it will come about and be made easy, even if people do not will it. If He does not will it and does not facilitate it, it will not come about, even if people will it.

This would be obligatory even if one of the causes were independently sufficient to produce the desired outcome. For if it were assumed to be independently sufficient to produce that outcome—though this could only be by Allah’s will and His making it possible—then it would be obligatory to