Divine Will, Self-Sufficiency, Life, and Resurrection

1. Nothing occurs apart from Allah’s will

وَلَا يَكُونُ إِلَّا مَا يُرِيدُ.
Nothing takes place except what Allah wills.

No created thing possesses an independent power capable of bringing about an event in opposition to the divine will. Everything that occurs is subject to that will.

Both Allah’s willing of an event and its occurrence at its appointed time are encompassed by this statement.

2. Divine will and “Be, and it is”

إِنَّمَا أَمْرُهُ إِذَا أَرَادَ شَيْئًا أَنْ يَقُولَ لَهُ كُنْ فَيَكُونُ. (Yā Sīn 36:82)
When He intends something, His command is only to say to it, “Be,” and it comes to be.

Kun (“Be”) expresses the effectiveness of Allah’s will and command: what He intends occurs according to that command.

The command also includes the appointed time and period in which the intended event is to occur.

3. The time of fulfilment within the command

When Allah wills an event, the command “Kun” includes the period designated for that event to be manifested. The expression does not require every intended occurrence to become outwardly manifest in the same instant.

An event may become apparent immediately or after a specified period; in either case, it takes place by Allah’s will.

The essential distinction is that both the timing and the result remain subject to divine will.

4. Two illustrations of an appointed time

The birth of a child: When Allah wills to grant a child, the purport of “Kun” may include the child’s birth after the appointed period, such as nine months.

The coming of death: When Allah wills the death of a person, that death comes at the time He has determined.

In both illustrations there is no conflict between the divine command and the appointed interval. The time itself is included in that command.

5. Imagination and understanding cannot encompass Him

لَا تَبْلُغُهُ الْأَوْهَامُ وَلَا تُدْرِكُهُ الْأَفْهَامُ.
Imaginations do not reach His reality, nor do understandings encompass Him.

Awhām is the plural of wahm; afhām is the plural of fahm.

The statement sets the limits of both forms of human thought: unsound thought cannot reach knowledge of Allah’s reality, and even sound understanding cannot fully encompass the divine essence.

6. The distinction between awhām and afhām

Wahm denotes faulty thinking. It cannot provide a sound approach to Allah’s reality.

Fahm denotes sound understanding. Through it, a person comes to know of Allah, but this knowledge does not amount to comprehensive grasp of the divine essence.

Faulty thought failing to reach the truth and sound understanding remaining limited are distinct matters. The two negations address them differently.

7. Knowledge is not complete comprehension

Maʿrifah (knowledge) here means coming to know Allah through sound reflection. Iḥāṭah (comprehension) would mean encompassing the entire reality of the divine essence within human understanding.

Sound reflection can yield knowledge, but total comprehension of Allah’s essence lies beyond the power of human understanding.

It therefore does not follow that, because complete comprehension is impossible, knowledge of Allah is impossible.

8. Allah does not resemble human beings

وَلَا يُشْبِهُ الْأَنَامَ.
He does not resemble human beings.

Human seeing, hearing, speaking, and bodily existence are connected with physical organs and means. These created dependencies do not apply to Allah.

Affirming divine attributes is not the same as attributing resemblance to creatures. Allah possesses attributes without the needs of created beings.

9. Human perception depends on organs

Seeing: A human being relies on eyes to see.
Speaking: A human being relies on a tongue to speak.
Hearing: A human being relies on ears to hear.
Existing: Human existence is related to a body and its organs.

These dependencies belong to created beings. They must not be projected onto Allah’s essence.

10. Divine attributes do not depend on created organs

Allah sees without needing eyes.
Allah hears without needing ears.
Allah exists without needing a body or limbs.

Thus, the bodily dependencies of creatures are denied of Allah while the affirmation of His attributes remains intact.

11. The terms yad, wajh, ʿayn, and sāq

The Qur’an uses expressions concerning Allah such as yad, wajh, ʿayn, sāq, and others.

These expressions are not to be understood as the hands, face, eyes, or bodily organs of creatures. They concern Allah’s attributes.

Knowledge of the meaning and reality of these attributes belongs to Allah. His essence is free from created organs and dependence upon them.

12. Allah lives and does not die

حَيٌّ لَا يَمُوتُ، قَيُّومٌ لَا يَنَامُ.
He is Living and does not die; He is the Sustainer who upholds the order of existence, and He does not sleep.

Ḥayy is accompanied by lā yamūt: no death ever overtakes Allah’s life.

Qayyūm is accompanied by lā yanām: sleep is also negated of the One who sustains all things.

13. Why “does not die” follows Ḥayy

Ḥayy means living, while lā yamūt makes explicit that death can never affect Allah’s life.

A created being may be alive and later die, but Allah’s life is not of this kind.

Allah has always been living and will always live; His life is free of death.

14. Why “does not sleep” follows Qayyūm

Qayyūm means the One who upholds and sustains. The accompanying lā yanām expressly negates sleep.

A sleeping person remains alive, but during sleep cannot attend to oneself or to others as one does while awake.

Allah sustains everything. Freedom from sleep accompanies the complete sustaining power described here.

15. Allah creates without any need

خَالِقٌ بِلَا حَاجَةٍ، رَازِقٌ بِلَا مُؤْنَةٍ.
He creates without need and provides sustenance without toil.

Khāliqun bilā ḥājah means that Allah does not create to satisfy any need of His own.

The created being needs to be brought into existence; Allah has no need of that creature. He is al-Ṣamad, entirely free of dependence.

16. Al-Ṣamad: needed by all, dependent on none

لَا يَحْتَاجُ إِلَى أَحَدٍ وَيَحْتَاجُ إِلَيْهِ كُلُّ أَحَدٍ.
He needs no one, while everyone needs Him.

This explanation of al-Ṣamad establishes two points:
1. Allah needs no created being.
2. Every created being depends upon Allah.

Dependence upon another contradicts complete self-sufficiency. Creation must therefore not be treated as the outcome of a need on Allah’s part.

17. Providing sustenance entails no toil for Allah

Rāziqun bilā muʾnah means that Allah grants sustenance without bearing effort, toil, or hardship in granting it.

The condition of the Provider differs from that of the recipient seeking provision: Allah provides without toil, while creatures may face substantial work in obtaining their livelihood.

The creatures’ effort does not imply any need or exertion on Allah’s part.

18. Hardship in created human life

لَقَدْ خَلَقْنَا الْإِنْسَانَ فِي كَبَدٍ. (Al-Balad 90:4)
We have indeed created the human being amid hardship.

Kabad means hardship. Human beings encounter effort and difficulty at different stages of birth, life, and earning sustenance.

Allah, by contrast, neither needs creation for His own sake nor experiences toil in providing for it.

19. Neither need in creating nor toil in providing

Khāliqun bilā ḥājah — Creation does not fulfil any need of Allah.
Rāziqun bilā muʾnah — Providing sustenance does not require effort from Allah.

Creatures depend upon Allah and may endure hardship to obtain provision, but Allah is both self-sufficient and free from toil.

The two expressions together clarify His perfection in creating and providing.

20. Allah causes death without fear

مُمِيتٌ بِلَا مَخَافَةٍ، بَاعِثٌ بِلَا مَشَقَّةٍ.
He causes death without fear and raises the dead (on the Day of Resurrection) without hardship.

Mumītun bilā makhāfah means that, when Allah causes someone to die, He has no fear of injury or retaliation from that person or the person’s relatives.

Fear can indicate inability, while Allah is absolutely powerful and free from inability.

21. No fear of retaliation when causing death

When a person dies, Allah is not concerned that the person who dies could harm Him or that relatives might retaliate.

Such apprehension would indicate a limitation of power, whereas Allah’s power is free of every deficiency.

The words bilā makhāfah thus affirm His complete authority in causing death and His freedom from inability.

22. Raising the dead entails no difficulty

Bāʿithun bilā mashaqqah means that Allah will raise created beings on the Day of Resurrection without experiencing hardship in doing so.

إِنَّمَا أَمْرُهُ إِذَا أَرَادَ شَيْئًا أَنْ يَقُولَ لَهُ كُنْ فَيَكُونُ. (Yā Sīn 36:82)
When He wills something, His command is to say, “Be,” and it comes to be.

Every event is subject to His will; raising creation at the Resurrection is likewise no difficulty for Him.

23. Why bāʿith rather than muḥyī?

Bāʿithun bilā mashaqqah — The One who raises without hardship.
Muḥyin bilā mashaqqah — The One who gives life without hardship.

The choice of bāʿith draws attention to a particular distinction: after death, life exists in the grave; at the Gathering that hidden life becomes outwardly manifest as people are raised.

In this respect, baʿth (raising) expresses the event of Resurrection particularly clearly.

24. Life in the grave is concealed

Life in the grave is concealed life. It is not manifest to ordinary observation:
It is not seen with the eyes.
It is not felt by touch.

At the Gathering, after baʿth, that life becomes manifest and people assemble on the plain of Resurrection.

The fact that life in the grave is not outwardly perceptible does not amount to its denial.

25. Calling resurrection “revival” does not deny grave-life

The resurrection on the Last Day may also be described by the word iḥyāʾ (“giving life”). In this usage, it means that life which was concealed in the grave now becomes outwardly apparent.

In the grave: Life exists but is concealed from ordinary perception.
At the Gathering: That life becomes manifest as creation is raised.

Thus calling the Resurrection iḥyāʾ does not negate life in the grave.