from them in the form of gaining some benefit or averting some harm, as is customary with a created being who benefits another so that the latter will repay him with some benefit, or wards off harm from another so as to protect himself against that person’s harm. Thus He said:
“You can never benefit Me, nor can you ever harm Me.”
Thus, when I favour you by guiding those who seek guidance and providing for those who seek provision, food, and clothing, I am not seeking any benefit from you. Nor, when I forgive your sins committed by night and by day, am I thereby protecting Myself against your harming Me. For you can never benefit Me, nor can you ever harm Me.
They are incapable of that. Indeed, even the actions within their power are possible only through His decree and governance—so what of those beyond their power? And how could they affect the Self-Sufficient One, upon whom all depend, who cannot possibly receive benefit or harm from anyone else?
Just as this statement makes clear that they can never do for Him what He does for them in bringing benefits and averting harms, it also implies that His commands to perform acts of obedience and His prohibitions against evil deeds do not entail seeking any benefit from them, as when a master commands his slave, a parent his child, or a ruler his subjects, and so forth. Nor do they entail warding off harm from them, as when these people or others forbid someone to harm them.
Created beings can benefit and harm one another, and their commands and prohibitions may serve such purposes. The Creator, glorified is He, is far exalted above that. He therefore makes clear that He is beyond receiving any benefit or harm from them in the kindness He shows them through