Then he explained that by saying: "No one is asked" meaning by any questioner [about] "what He does" meaning He is not to be opposed because there is no equal to Him in knowledge, wisdom, power, [or greatness -] nor anything else. [There is no place for questioning in any of His actions for their perfection -] So whatever He intends is, and whatever He says is good and beautiful. If He willed, He could punish the inhabitants of His heavens and the inhabitants of His earth, and that would be just and good from Him. This is something by which the people of high aspirations boast, as 'Amir al-Khasafi said about Hashim ibn Harmalah ibn al-Ash'ar:

He revived his father Hashim ibn Harmalah on the day of the dust storms and the day of the deeds.

You see the kings before him as if they are sifted, he kills the one with sin and the one without sin.

Ibn Hisham said in the introduction to the Sirah shortly before "the matter of bravery": Abu Ubaidah recited these verses to me and told me that Hashim said to 'Amir: Say a good verse about me, so 'Amir said the first verse and it did not please Hashim. Then he said the second verse and it did not please him. Then he said the third verse and it did not please him. When he said [the fourth -]

"And he kills the one with sin and the one without sin,"

it pleased him, so he rewarded him for it. [And among the most astonishing things I have seen in the wisdom of the ancients is that al-Shahrastani said in the sects: Some of the materialists asked Aristotle and said: If He has always been and nothing else, then why did He create the world? He said: "Why" is not permissible for Him, because "why" necessitates a reason, and the reason is dependent on what it is a reason for from a cause above it, and there is no cause above Him, and He is not composite so that His essence carries the reasons. So why is it negated from Him? -]

"And they will be asked" by every questioner about what is in their actions of corruption, rather they will be prevented from most of what they desire.