own anything, nor do they have a share in anything. Nor does He, glorified be He, have any helper—that is, anyone who supports or assists Him. He has no minister, adviser, or helper. This accords with His words, glorified be He:

“And say, ‘Praise be to Allah, who has never taken a son, nor has He any partner in His dominion, nor does He need a protector out of weakness.’ And proclaim His greatness.”

A creature takes another creature as an ally because of his own weakness; when he has an ally to support him, he gains strength through that ally. But the Lord Most High does not take anyone as an ally because of any weakness on His part—exalted is He. Rather, He is mighty in Himself:

“Whoever desires might, all might belongs to Allah.”

He takes His believing servants as allies only out of His mercy, grace, wisdom, kindness, generosity, bounty, and beneficence.

Accordingly, high and low prices—resulting from prices rising and falling—are among the events that have no creator but Allah alone. None of them occurs except by His will and power. Yet He, glorified be He, has made some human actions causes of certain events, just as He has made a killer’s act of killing a cause of the victim’s death. He has also made people’s wrongdoing a possible cause of rising prices, and some people’s benevolence a possible cause of falling prices.

For this reason, some Qadarī Mu‘tazilites and others have attributed high and low prices to certain people, and have built unsound principles upon this:

(First: that human actions are not created by Allah Most High.