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Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books Light Within Me Part 3.2: Relationship between Allah and His Creation We were talking as to which word the word ' ism ' in ' bismillah ' is connected. In this regard there are several possibilities as I have mentioned. The Creator and the Created We cannot understand certain questions in this regard unless we know what sort of relationship there exists between Allah and the creation.

We talk about this relationship either parrot-like and repeat some set words, or occasionally in addition to that advance some arguments also. A stage higher than this is the privilege of some other people. Anyhow the relationship between Allah and the creation is not of the sort that exists, for example, between father and son, that is between two things existing independently but related to each other. The sun and its rays are an example of a closer relationship.

In this case also the sun and its rays are two different things, each having a separate existence to some extent. Man and his mental and physical faculties are an example of another kind of relationship. Even in this case man and his faculties are not identical, though they are closely related.

Unlike all these examples, the relationship between the existing things and Allah, Who is the source of their existence, is of quite a different kind and cannot be compared to any of the relationships mentioned above. At several places in the Qur'an and the traditions the relationship between Allah and His creation has been described as Allah's glory. The Qur'an says: When his Lord revealed His glory to the mountain. (Surah al-A'raf, 7:143).

There is a sentence in the Samat Supplication which says: 'By the light of Your glory You revealed to the mountain and thus sent it down crashing…’ At another place the Qur'an says: Allah takes away the souls at the times of their death. (Surah az-Zumar, 39:42) while it is known that taking away the souls is the job of the Death Angel. If somebody kills a person, in that case also it is said that he has put him to death.

At another place the Qur'an says: You did not throw when you threw (the pebbles), but Allah threw. (Surah al-Anfal, 8:17) All this is the description of a light and a glory. If we ponder over this concept, certain questions occur to our mind. Meanings of Al-Hamd We said earlier that the first possibility about the definite article in al-Hamdu is that it might be denoting comprehensiveness.