and is not self-sufficient without him. How much more so one who eats and drinks! One who eats and drinks has a hollow interior, whereas one who is solid, without a hollow interior, is more perfect than one who eats and drinks. This is why the angels have no hollow interiors and neither eat nor drink. It has already been explained that the Creator is more entitled to every perfection established for a created being, and more entitled to be free of every deficiency from which a created being is free. Revelation has denied these things of Him in several places, as in His statement, exalted is He:

“Allah, the Eternal Refuge.”

Al-Samad is He who has no hollow interior and neither eats nor drinks. This surah describes the Most Merciful, or is the foundation of this subject. He also says concerning the Messiah and his mother:

“The Messiah, son of Mary, was not but a messenger; other messengers have passed on before him. And his mother was a woman of truth. They both used to eat food.”

He thus made their eating food evidence that they were not divine. This demonstrates, all the more certainly, that He is exalted above such things. The liver, spleen, and similar organs serve the functions of eating and drinking. The Self-Sufficient One, who is exalted above these functions, is therefore exalted above the organs that serve them. The hand is different, for it serves work and action, and He—glorified is He—is described as working and acting, since these are attributes of perfection. One who can act is more perfect than one who cannot.

He—glorified is He—is exalted above having a consort or offspring, and above the organs and means associated with that. Likewise, weeping and sorrow entail weakness and incapacity, above which He—glorified is He—is exalted. Joy and anger, by contrast, are attributes of perfection. Thus, just as He is described as possessing power rather than