exalted is He, “God is independent of the worlds” [Al ʿImran 3:97].
The rational proof is that, were His existence not necessary through Himself while He possesses existence, He would be possible, since He possesses existence. Were He possible, His existence would depend upon one giving it preference. The name the Independent would not then be valid for Him without qualification. If He depended in any respect, He would not be absolutely independent and would belong to the world, a sign indicating the one who gave Him preference. He is therefore absolutely independent.
One possessing this independence who then brings the world into existence does not bring it into existence because He needs it. He brings the world into existence for the world, preferring it over His possessing existence alone. This is spiritual chivalry itself.
(Manifesting the Blessing and Concealing the Reminder of Favor)
Among divine spiritual chivalry are the two reports, Qurʾanic and prophetic. The Qurʾanic is His saying, “I created jinn and human beings only to worship Me” [al-Dhariyat 51:56]. Its form here is that He created them to bless them with existence, bring them out of the evil of nonexistence, enable them to assume the character of the divine names, and make vicegerents from them. All this prefers them over His possessing alone everything in which He makes them vicegerents.
Then He knew that reminding the recipient of a favor impairs the blessing for him. Preferring them, He concealed this through His saying, “I created jinn and human beings only to worship Me,” making it appear that He created them for His sake, not theirs.
In the prophetic Mosaic report, He, exalted is He, created things for our sake and created us for His sake. By this He concealed His saying, “There is nothing but glorifies Him with His praise” [al-Israʾ 17:44], making all understand through His informing them that they glorify Him with His praise, so that we sense no trace of reminding us of favor. In the
Notes
Translator’s note TN4248-1: The argument distinguishes bestowing a favor from asserting or reminding the recipient of it. The repeated mann/minnah vocabulary changes between those senses; the translation preserves that distinction rather than treating every occurrence as reproach.
