For from Him all goodness is sought, and from the clouds of His generosity, blessings descend. Truly, He is the Magnanimous, the Generous, the Exalted, the Great.

« The Second Dictum »

Know—may God teach you goodness—that the reason for what God the Exalted has obligated upon His servants: of His gnosis, His Oneness (Tawḥīd), the affirmation of Him, sincerity toward Him, the negation of attributes from Him, the belief in His angels, His books, and His messengers, the loyalty to His protégés (awliyā’), the enmity toward His enemies, the following of His commands, the avoidance of His prohibitions, the adherence to His obedience, and the punishment for His opposition—all this despite His self-sufficiency beyond the obedience of the obedient and His being unharmed by the disobedience of the disobedient—is from the aspect of which was necessitated by Wisdom in the existence of being as it is: of the lowly and the noble, the strong and the weak, good and evil, and faith and unbelief. This is so that it may proceed in the scales of justice (qisṭās al-‘adl) toward the near and the far, the obedient and the disobedient.