If we say that it did not require a cause and changed by accident...

If we say that it did not require a cause and changed by accident, we have said what is intellectually absurd. If we say it needed a cause, then that would also be incorrect because for something to be necessary no cause is needed whatsoever. A Necessary Being is Causeless. It is never brought about. Hence a contingent being can never turn into a Necessary Being. Therefore, what exactly do we mean when we utter the above verse of this supplication? What do we actually seek from Almighty Allāh?

One of the Sublime Names of Almighty Allāh is al-Samad. There are several meanings for this name, but they in reality are corollaries ( lawāzim ) of its exact lexical meaning[^8] which is: ‘One who is besought and every entity returns to Him for any need.’ One of the corollary meanings of al-Samad is ‘the All-compact (al-musmat).’ Imām al-Husayn (as) is reported to have said: آَلصّمَدُ: الَّذِي لاَ جَوْفَ لَهُ...

“As-Samad is One Who has no hollowness.” Due to His Infinite Existence, there is no gap of deficiency in any of His perfections. If He is All-Knowing, then there is no perforation in His Infinite knowledge, if He is All-Powerful, there is no kind of power that he lacks… In short, He has no kind of deficiency in the level of His Essence, Attributes or Actions.

Mullā Hādī Sabzawārī in his Sharh al-Asmā’ says: فانّه لمّا كان بسيط الحقيقة واجداً للكمالات والخيرات لا يسلب عنه خير، كان كالمصمّت الّذي لا جوف له - تعالى عن الشبيه و النظير علوّاً كبيراً - فهو بخلاف الممكن الّذي هو الأجوف النّاقص الجائع الفاقد لكلّ كمال، في مرتبة ذاته بذاته...

“Because His reality is Simple[^9] and Non-composite [ Basīt al-Haqīqa ] and He possesses all the perfections and virtues, and does not lack any goodness ( khayr ), He is like a compact entity ( al-musammat ) that does not have any hollowness- highly exalted is He from comparison and similarity- and so He (Allāh) is contrary to a contingent being ( al-mumkin ) who is hollow ( al-ajwaf ), imperfect, hungry, and lacks any perfection in the level of his essence…”[^10] Therefore, every dependent entity is hollow in its reality.

Only Allāh is al-Samad. Several parables are given to show this relation. One such relation is that of the ocean and its waves. The waves have nothing of their own yet they seem to be different to the Ocean. Perhaps the best comparison is that of the reflection and the mirror. The creation is like the reflection of Divine Names in the Mirror.