Nor can it be said of even the best of these people: “The Lord and the servant are one and the same, with no distinction between them.” Rather, concerning the best of creation, one should say what Allah Most High has said:
“Indeed, those who pledge allegiance to you are only pledging allegiance to Allah. The hand of Allah is above their hands.”
And He said:
“Whoever obeys the Messenger has obeyed Allah.”
And He said:
“Allah and His Messenger have a greater right that they should please Him.”
And He said:
“Indeed, those who offend Allah and His Messenger—Allah has cursed them in this world and the Hereafter.”
There are other statements of this kind.
As for all other servants, Allah is their Creator, Owner and Lord, and the Creator of their abilities and acts. When their acts accord with what He loves and is pleased with, He loves and honours those who perform them. When their acts provoke His displeasure and are hateful to Him, He hates and humiliates those who perform them. The servants’ acts are brought about and created by Allah; they are neither an attribute of His nor an act subsisting in His essence.
As for His words, Most High:
“It was not you who threw when you threw, but Allah who threw,”
they mean: it was not you who made what was thrown reach its target when you cast it; rather, Allah made it reach its target. For “the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, had thrown a handful of dust at the polytheists and said, ‘May the faces be disfigured!’” Allah then made it reach the polytheists’ faces and eyes, whereas the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, lacked the power to make it reach them.
Throwing has an initial stage, which is casting, and a final stage, which is reaching the target. Allah affirmed the initial stage for His Prophet in His words:
“When you threw,”
but denied that the Prophet brought about the final stage and attributed it to Himself in His words:
“But Allah who threw.”
Otherwise, what is affirmed cannot be identical to what is denied, for that would be a contradiction.