And when he answered out of a longing for the reason for his patience in not repelling them from him, the essence of it is that he has nothing in his hand. This is because his Lord is of such greatness in encompassing [knowledge] and [ability], and that nothing escapes His will. So He does not hasten in anything, whereby He only does what He wants, whether asked or not. This perhaps necessitated that it be assumed of him, blessings and peace be upon him, that he agreed with them so that they would not harm him, for they hasten in harming whoever opposes them. He answered that the essence of it is that he is between two harms: one from them if he opposes them, and the other from Him, glorified and exalted is He, if he turns away from Him. And He, glorified and exalted is He, repels their harm if He wills, while they cannot repel His harm in any way. So he said: "Say"—that is, to whoever calls you to agree with them. And he affirmed what many people assume, that the causes do not fail, so he said: "Indeed, I"—and he increased in affirmation so that this would be firmly established in the souls, saying: "Will not protect me"—that is, will not repel from me what a neighbor repels from his neighbor—"from Allah"—that is, the One to whom belongs all command, and there is no command for anyone with Him—"anyone"—that is, whoever it may be if He, glorified is He, intends me with harm.

And when it was that whoever is in this situation may perhaps flee from the one sought, he said affirmatively: "And I will not find"—that is, at all. And when every rank is below His rank, and the ranks that are below His rank are very numerous due to His absolute exaltation, he indicated that by saying: "from Him"—that is, Allah, the Exalted—"a refuge"—that is, a place of inclination, a place of leaning, an entrance, a shelter, and a means. And if you strive with all effort, for the essence of a refuge is inclination, and it is only said in an inclination from truth to falsehood. And the limit is: to argue, to dispute, and to lean.