Indeed God has power over all things.

He adds to the creation whatever He wishes]. But the former is more apparent [i.e. it is a reason for all the aforementioned].”[^5] Likewise is the case with many of our supplications[^6], including the supplication under discussion. If we look at the supplication as a whole, we would realize that the last verse is the reason behind all the aforementioned verses.

In other words: • Since only Allāh is the All-Powerful, only He Can do whatever He Wants; • Therefore we seek all the aforementioned requests from Him. In the previous verses we came to realize that God has a universal law: to get things done by their causes. Hence we should also seek the causes of what we aspire. However, we emphasized that the Principal Cause is Almighty Allāh alone. Therefore we should not look at the agent of grace as an independent provider.

The only Independent Provider is Allāh. To Him Alone belongs everything in all the stages of its existence and subsistence. Therefore, to rely on the causes stems from ignorance and is a manifestation of practical polytheism. Was it was not for him I would have perished? There is an ignorant tendency among some people when it comes to appreciating the help they receive from their friends. A well-wisher may support a person and his family, and thereby emancipate him from many obstacles in life.

Then, having attained the state of affluence, the person would say I thank Allāh first and then so and so, for had it not been for his assistance I would not have reached where I am. Such kind of thinking in our traditions is termed as practical polytheism. This is because the helper is just an intermediary of grace ( wāsitah ) and has no independence whatsoever, and thus cannot be taken as a second independent helper.