of Him.

As for created beings, you are least esteemed by them when you are most in need of them, for they are all needy themselves. They do not know your needs or know how to secure what is good for you. Indeed, they are ignorant of what is good for themselves, so how could they know how to secure what is good for others? They cannot accomplish it, nor do they desire it of their own accord. Thus, they have neither the knowledge, the ability, nor the will.

The Lord, Most High, knows what is good for you, is able to secure it, and wills it out of His mercy and bounty. This is an attribute inherent in Him; nothing else has made Him willing and merciful. Rather, His mercy is inseparable from His very being: He has prescribed mercy for Himself, and His mercy encompasses all things. Created beings, by contrast, are all needy. They do nothing except to meet their own needs and serve their own interests. This is their duty and the course of wisdom; nothing else is fitting for them. Yet the happy among them are those who pursue what truly serves their interests, rather than what they imagine serves them but does not.

They therefore fall into three classes: the unjust, the just, and the beneficent.

The unjust person takes wealth or some benefit from you without giving you anything in return, or benefits himself by harming you.

The just person gives an equivalent in return, like a seller: the exchange is neither to your advantage nor to your disadvantage. Each helps sustain the order of life, and each of the two needs the other, as with spouses, buyers and sellers, and partners.

The beneficent person does good without seeking compensation from you. Yet this, too, is an act that serves his own need and interest: he benefits from doing good and obtains through it something his soul loves, such as reward, the praise and esteem of others, a closer relationship with you, or something else.

In any case, he has only done good to you because he hopes to benefit. All other created beings honor and esteem you only because they need you and benefit from you, either