the forms of injustice He denies is punishing someone who has committed no sin. Likewise, His words, Exalted is He:

“And the man who believed said, ‘O my people, I fear for you a day like that of the earlier nations—a fate like that of the people of Noah, 'Ād, Thamūd, and those after them. And Allah wills no injustice for His servants.’”

This makes clear that this punishment was not unjust, because they deserved it, and that Allah does not will injustice. One cannot properly be praised for not willing something that cannot possibly lie within one’s power. Refraining from an action is praiseworthy only when the one praised is capable of it. Thus, we know that Allah is capable of the injustice from which He has declared Himself free, but that He does not commit it. It is in this sense that His saying holds true:

“I have forbidden injustice to Myself.”

Prohibition means restraint, and this cannot apply to something intrinsically impossible. It would therefore be inappropriate to say, “I have forbidden Myself, or restrained Myself, from creating another like Me, or from making created beings creators,” or similar impossibilities.

The most that can be offered as an interpretation of this amounts to: “I have stated of Myself that what cannot lie within My power cannot proceed from Me.” The believer knows with certainty that this is not what the Lord intends. Allah and His Messenger must be held above intending such a meaning, which is unworthy of being conveyed in speech. Besides being virtually a repetition and a statement of the obvious, it contains neither praise nor commendation, nor anything from which the listener can benefit. Thus, we know that what He has forbidden Himself is something within His power, but He does not do it because He has forbidden it to Himself. Glorified is He, exalted and holy above committing it.