Allah, al-Malik, that “everything other than He is subject in its essence and its attributes, while He is independent of everything—and this is what it is to be king absolutely.”
(Al-Ghazali)
(Al-Ghazali)
Al-Ghazali recounts a story where one person said
“to a certain shaykh: ‘Advise me’, and he said to him: ‘Be a king in this world and you will be a king in the next.’ When he said: ‘How might I do that?’ The shaykh answered: ‘Renounce this world and you will be a king in the next.’ He meant: detach your needs and your passions from this world, for kingship lies in being free and able to dispense with everything.”
قُلِ اللَّهُمَّ مَالِكَ الْمُلْكِ تُؤْتِي الْمُلْكَ مَن تَشَاءُ وَتَنزِعُ الْمُلْكَ مِمَّن تَشَاءُ وَتُعِزُّ مَن تَشَاءُ وَتُذِلُّ مَن تَشَاءُ ۖ بِيَدِكَ الْخَيْرُ ۖ إِنَّكَ عَلَىٰ كُلِّ شَيْءٍ قَدِيرٌ – 3:26
Say, “O Allah, Owner of Sovereignty, You give sovereignty to whom You will and You take sovereignty away from whom You will. You honor whom You will and You humble whom You will. In Your hand is [all] good. Indeed, You are over all things competent.
