Allah the Exalted said: << ومن رحمته جعل لكم اليل و النهار لتسكنوا فيه ولتبتغوا من فضله ولعلكم تشكرون >

Allah the Exalted said: [Surah al-Qasas: 73] That is, He made the occurrence contingent upon His saying: meaning, and He made for you the night and the day... from His mercy. And His saying: Here, the preposition "min" indicates causality, meaning: because of His mercy, that is, because of the attribute of mercy by which He, Glorified and Exalted is He, is described. Mercy is a true, established attribute of Allah, Glorified and Exalted is He. It is not the will, not the will to bestow, and not the bestowal itself. The people of the Sunnah and the community say: Mercy is a true, established attribute of Allah, Mighty and Majestic, that does not resemble the mercy of creation. As for the Asha'irah, they distort the meaning of mercy to be the bestowal or the will to bestow, interpreting it as the act of bestowal or its will, because they affirm the will, which is a conceptual attribute they affirm. It has passed us that they do not affirm from the attributes except seven, including the will. They interpret mercy as the will to bestow. Why? They said: Because the will is indicated by revelation and reason, and we do not affirm of the attributes of Allah except what is indicated by reason. As for what is not indicated by reason, it is obligatory upon us to interpret it figuratively. We say: We distort it according to their action. They call it ta'wil (figurative interpretation), and we say: It is tahrif (distortion of a text's meaning). They say: What is indicated by reason of the attributes of Allah, we have affirmed, and what is not, it is obligatory that we interpret it figuratively, and in the most correct meaning, we distort it. Did you understand, people? We say: What is the evidence of reason for the will? They say: Reason indicates the will through the specification of created things. Is every thing from the created things specified by something or not? This, Allah willed it to be hard, so it became hard. This, it is soft, so it became soft. This, it is long, so it is long. This, it is short, so it is short, and so on. This... what does this indicate? It indicates the will, meaning the matter is not free from will. Good, why mercy? They said: Because mercy is a softness that overtakes the heart, necessitating tenderness toward the one shown mercy. We say to them: This mercy you mentioned is only the mercy of created beings. And we affirm for Allah a mercy that does not resemble the mercy of created beings. Then, we argue for mercy by reason, just as you argued for the will by reason. How many blessings does Allah, Glorified and Exalted is He, have upon us?
The student: They cannot be counted or enumerated.

The Shaykh : They cannot be counted or enumerated. And how many alleviations of distress does Allah the Exalted have that cannot be counted or enumerated? What is the matter that necessitates these things, bringing blessings and repelling harms?
The student: Mercy.

The Shaykh : Mercy, because the harsh one who does not show mercy does not bring blessing nor repel harm. So, arguing with the occurrences that involve bringing benefits and repelling harms is clearer and more evident than arguing with the specification for the will. What is it, Ali? Because the indication of specification for the will is not understood except by some individuals, but the indication of bringing benefits and repelling harms for mercy is understood by all people, even the common person in his market. If he sees a man harsh toward his children, for example, he says: This one has no... mercy. And if he sees that he, for example, always brings them good and repels evil from them, he says: This is a merciful person. So, the indication of reason for mercy is stronger than its indication for the will. And yet, they affirm the will and do not affirm mercy. So here they say: From His mercy. We cannot affirm for Allah an attribute that is mercy, but rather we say: From His bestowal. Yes, and so on. And we say: That "min" indicates causality, and is His attribute by which He is described eternally and forever. For this reason, He began His book with and coupled His lordship with it , indicating that this lordship is all lordship of mercy, not lordship of retribution and harshness, but it is lordship of mercy. How do we deny this great attribute of the attributes of Allah and affirm what is less than it? And this indicates the contradiction of these deniers of the divine attributes from the Asha'irah, the Mu'tazilah, and others, because they contradict themselves by affirming for Allah from the attributes what reason indicates the affirmation of what is more deserving, and they deny from the attributes what reason indicates the affirmation of.
means created, and it does not mean made, and for this reason it did not take two objects. Night and day succeed one another among you. For the people, meaning in the night, in the day, from earning. His saying: The letter "lam" is for causation, meaning in order that you may rest in it. And the existence of the effect does not necessitate the existence of the cause if the cause is not effective. For example, [Surah al-Dhariyat: 56]. This is a teleological cause, and the teleological cause does not necessitate its existence from the existence of the effect. So, the existence of creation does not necessitate the existence of worship. Likewise, "in order that you may rest in it" is a teleological cause and not an effective cause. And the existence of the effect does not necessitate the existence of the teleological cause. So, for example, a person might say: We find some people do not rest at night, right or not? There are people who do not rest at night; one person's livelihood is at night, like the guards, and another person's leisure is at night, like the idle ones who sleep during the day and stay up at night. We say: The existence of the effect, if the cause is teleological, does not necessitate the existence of the cause. Just as if I said: I presented this camel to you to ride on it; you may ride it or you may not. I gave you the pen to write with it; perhaps you will write and perhaps you will not. Clear? And His saying: The author says: "You rest, you take ease" Because it is not from "sukna" (dwelling) but from "sukun" (stillness). Yes, where is the "nun" in His saying: ? The "nun" was deleted because it is the object of the verb. The strange thing is that I have ... and the exegete also interpreted it with his saying: "You take ease" No, I seek forgiveness from Allah! That is the one before it. Meaning in the night, meaning you take ease. You seek, meaning you ask for. And His saying: Meaning from His giving and provision. "In the day by earning" And in the verse here, is there an arrangement and a folded and unfolded structure that is ordered or not ordered? ? It is ordered. He began with the night and presented its benefit, which is stillness, and this is in the night, so it contains an ordered folded and unfolded structure. This is for causation, or in order that you may remember Allah, Glorified and Exalted is He, for His blessing. So, he mentioned Allah, Glorified and Exalted is He, the two causes: the legislative and the natural. As for the natural, it is -O Ghannam- the natural cause in the creation of night and day?
The student: In order that you may rest in it.

The Shaykh :, and the legislative cause is , that you thank Allah, Glorified and Exalted is He, for what He has bestowed upon you of the succession of night and day. Because things become clear by their opposites. If the night were eternal and the day were eternal, no one would rest at night or seek the surplus in the day. But Allah, Glorified and Exalted is He, made it for the sake of rest, even though there are other benefits besides the issue of mentioned in Surah al-Furqan: [Surah al-Furqan: 62]. And in the authentic hadith: So, the result is that in the succession of night and day there are great benefits that necessitate that we thank Allah, Glorified and Exalted is He, for them. And know that gratitude is by the heart, the tongue, and the limbs. As for gratitude by the heart, it is that the person acknowledges with his heart that these blessings are from Allah, Glorified and Exalted is He, alone. He acknowledges fully, even if these blessings came through a cause, let him believe that the cause is from where? From Allah. He is the one who created it, so these blessings were obtained through it. As for gratitude by the tongue, it is praising Allah the Exalted with what He deserves, whether for this blessing or others. Praising Allah with what He deserves for this blessing or for others, all of that is included in gratitude. And on this basis, the saying of a person: Subhan Allah (Glory be to Allah), Alhamdulillah (Praise be to Allah), and Allahu Akbar (Allah is the Greatest) is considered gratitude. And his saying when he eats food or drinks a drink: Alhamdulillah. Meaning for this food or drink, is also considered from gratitude. As for the third, which is the limbs, it is that the person performs obedience to Allah, whether it relates to this blessing or not. He uses this blessing to help in his obedience, or he performs the obedience that does not relate to this blessing.