And when he mentioned the created thing, he mentioned its context, indicating the completeness of his encompassing it with the hidden and the apparent. This is because He creates the truly great thing, and it comes according to His will. Then it does not need to be increased or decreased. He said: "He created the heavens," which are the ceiling of the house of the king's servants, despite their vastness and height, as you see. "And the earth," which is the foundation of their house and its bedding, despite its expanse and what is in it of facilities and aids. "With truth," meaning with the command that corresponds to reality, so there is neither excess nor deficiency. Rather, the reality came from it corresponding to what He intended, unlike how one of us intends something, and when he finds it, it is not according to his intention. And due to the manifestation of the established matter and the nullification of falsehood, He is the Creator of the two abodes: the worldly and the otherworldly, contrary to those who do not say this, such as the Sabians, philosophers, and others.

And when the people of the natural elements say: Indeed, the celestial bodies have an effect according to their essence and nature, He said, negating that and reminding of His favor to be grateful: ﴿And He fashioned you﴾ meaning, O those addressed, upon forms that do not correspond to anything from the forms of the exalted or the lowly, nor is there in it a form that corresponds to another in every way. ﴿So He made your forms good﴾, so He made them the best forms of all animals, as is observed in this world and likewise in the Hereafter, contrary to the people of reincarnation. Although its position in itself is the best of positions, if anything were to change from its place to something we know, then ugliness would occur with it. With the preference of humanity by adorning it with the purest attributes of beings, and He, glorified and exalted is He, made the members capable of all that the members of other animals are capable of, with additions that are specific to humanity, such as the beauty of the face and the elegance of the limbs. Thus, he is the best in relation to the species as it is, and in relation to individuals in the same matter, even if some are better than others. The ugliness of the ugly among them is only in relation to the better among them. For this reason, the philosophers said, there are two things that have no limit: beauty and eloquence. So He created man in the best stature, which does not negate that he is for the species that He made the best individuals of the types above it. There is no limit to the excellence of some in relation to [others], as one observes what exists among the individuals of his type from the essences. For the power of Allah is limitless. So beware not to listen to what has occurred in the books of Imam Al-Ghazali that it is not possible to create anything better than what exists. Even if he knew that he was objected to in that and he responded to it in the book in which he answered the objections against him, that response is not worth considering either. For that resolves to the fact that He, glorified and exalted is He, cannot create anything better than this world, and no one says this. This does not diminish the worth of Al-Ghazali, for everyone’s words are taken and rejected, as Imam Malik, may Allah be pleased with him, said. Al-Ghazali himself attributed it to Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with them both. And Imam Al-Shafi'i, may Allah be pleased with him and grant him peace, said: I composed these books and I did not spare any effort in them, and I know that there are errors in them because Allah, the Exalted, says: ﴿And if it had been from other than Allah, they would have found in it much contradiction﴾ [An-Nisa: 82].

And when the decree was: So from Him, glorified is He, is the beginning, He added to it His saying: ﴿And to Him﴾ meaning, alone ﴿is the final return﴾, meaning, after resurrection, with the same power by which He decreed the beginning. So whoever was upon the original nature and did not change it, He will admit him to Paradise. And whoever has corrupted it and made his soul a breath by which he has imprinted it according to how he has embodied it, He will admit him to (p-109) the Fire. And in this world as well, by His exclusive management, there will be nothing from the king and the common people except what He wills, [not what that willing doer wills].