a disparity whose extent cannot be known in this world (1)—then it is well known that the Lord’s attributes of perfection differ from the attributes of His creation far more than one created thing differs from another. Accordingly, the one among all creation who knew Allah best (2) said in the authentic [hadith] (3):
“I cannot praise You fully; You are as You have praised Yourself.” (4)
He also said in the [transmitted] supplication (5), narrated by Ahmad and Ibn Hibbān in his Sahīh from Ibn Masūd—may Allah be pleased with him—that the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—said:
“No servant is ever afflicted by anxiety or sorrow and then says: ‘O Allah, I am Your servant, [the son of Your servant] (6) and the son of Your maidservant. My forelock is in Your hand; Your command concerning me is carried out, and Your decree concerning me is just. I ask You by every name that is Yours—with which You have named Yourself, revealed in Your Book, taught (7) to any of Your creation, or reserved exclusively for Yourself in the knowledge of the unseen—
(1) N and M read: “although in reality there is a disparity between them—a disparity whose extent is unknown in this world.”
(2) N and M read: “the greatest.”
(3) N reads *fī al-Sahīh* (“in the Sahīh”); M reads *fī al-sihāh* (“in the authentic collections”).
(4) The hadith narrated by ʿĀʾisha—may Allah be pleased with her—is found in Muslim, 1:352 (Book of Prayer, chapter “What Is Said While Bowing and Prostrating”). It begins: “One night, I found the Messenger of Allah—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—missing from the bed, so I felt around for him. My hand touched the sole of his foot while he was in the mosque, with both feet upright, and he was saying: ‘O Allah, I seek refuge in Your pleasure from Your wrath, in Your pardon from Your punishment, and in You from You. I cannot praise You fully; You are as You have praised Yourself.’” The hadith is also found in: *Sunan Abī Dāwūd*, 1:322 (Book of Prayer, chapter “Supplication While Bowing and Prostrating”); *Sunan al-Tirmidhī*, 5:187 (Book of Supplications, chapter beginning “Al-Ansārī narrated to us; Maʿn informed us…”); *Sunan Ibn Mājah*, 2:1262–1263 (Book of Supplication, chapter “What the Messenger of Allah—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—Sought Refuge From”); and *al-Musnad*, al-Halabī ed., 6:58, 201.
(5) “transmitted” is omitted from N and M.
(6) “the son of Your servant” is omitted from N only.
(7) A and B read: “and You revealed it in Your Book and taught it.”