perfection, which none but He deserves and with which none but He can be described. He—glorified is He—is the Lord of all things, so nothing comes into being except through Him. He is the God besides whom there is no god, and we may worship none but Him. Whatever is not brought into being through Him cannot exist, and whatever is not for His sake neither benefits nor endures. Every deed not intended to seek His Face is vain:

“To Him ascends good speech, and righteous deeds raise it.”

He is the One who makes the Muslim a Muslim, the worshipper one who prays, the penitent one who repents, and the praiser one who praises. Thus, when He facilitates the way of ease for His servant, and the servant repents to Him and Allah rejoices at his repentance, gives thanks to Him and He is pleased with his gratitude, and does righteous deeds and He loves him—it is not the creature who has made the Creator pleased, loving, and rejoicing at his repentance. Rather, the Lord is the One who has made the creature perform what brings Him joy, pleases Him, and is beloved to Him. All of this occurs through His will and power. He has no partner in bringing anything into being, nor does He need anyone else in any respect.

Rather, He is entirely free of need for anything besides Him in every respect, while everything besides Him needs Him in every respect. If He creates something for a wise purpose that He loves and is pleased with, it is not valid to say that He needs another—unless there were another creator besides Him who does what He loves and is pleased with. This implication arises on the view of the Qadariyyah, who claim that He did not create the actions of His servants and that acts of obedience came into being without His power or His creating them. If it is then said that He loves those acts and is pleased with them, it follows that the creature has made Him so. But according to the position of the people of the Sunnah—who say that He is the Creator of everything, including