And when he reproached them for worshipping beings that can avail them nothing, neither benefiting nor harming them, he said:

“Who created me and guides me,
who feeds me and gives me drink.
And when I am ill, it is He who heals me,
who will cause me to die and then bring me to life,
and who, I hope, will forgive my sin on the Day of Judgment.”

A person needs to secure benefit for his heart and body and ward off harm from them. This encompasses both religious and worldly affairs. In religion, the benefit is guidance, the harm is sin, and the removal of that harm is forgiveness. This is why affirming Allah’s oneness and seeking His forgiveness are coupled in numerous passages. For the body, the benefit is food and drink, the harm is illness, and the removal of that harm is healing.

He declared that his Lord gives life and causes death, and that He originated the heavens and the earth. His giving life is a perfection beyond that of His being living. His having originated the heavens and the earth entails His sustaining them and maintaining their existence—a perfection beyond that of His being self-subsisting. Concerning the stars, he said:

“I do not love those that set.”

For that which sets disappears at one time and appears at another, and thus does not watch over