on Himself. He is the Creator, Lord, and Sovereign of everything, and He grants dominion to whomever He wills and takes it away from whomever He wills. Dominion may mean the power to govern and dispose of affairs, the actual governing and disposing of affairs, the possessions themselves that are subject to governance, or all of these together. In any case, neither the righteousness of the righteous nor the wickedness of the wicked causes any of these to increase or diminish. Rather, by His will and power, He creates whatever He wills. Were He to wish to create whatever He willed despite the wickedness of the wicked, nothing could prevent Him, whereas the wickedness of subjects who oppose their kings’ commands prevents those kings from doing what they choose in this regard. Were He to wish not to create any of the things He has created despite the righteousness of the righteous, their righteousness would neither necessitate His creating them nor assist Him in doing so, unlike kings, who need and seek the assistance of large numbers of obedient subjects.

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He then described their condition in the two matters—asking for His goodness and obeying His commands—which He mentioned in the hadith when He spoke of seeking guidance, food, and clothing, and mentioned forgiveness, righteousness, and wickedness. He said:

“If the first of you and the last of you, the humans among you and the jinn among you, were all gathered in one place and asked Me, and I gave each person what he asked for,