And He is the Vanquisher over His servants, by His annihilation of their essences, attributes and acts by His essence, attributes and acts, such that His vanquishing power is in effect the very source of His graciousness (luṭf), just as He was gracious to them by bringing them into existence, granting the capacity and the power to partake of different kinds of enjoyments and prepared for them what they wanted of different kinds of graces and desires of the appetite by which they were veiled from Him: that is His very vanquishing. Glory then be to the One whose mercy embraces His friends even with the intensity of His retribution and whose retribution is severe against His enemies while His mercy is all-embracing; and He is the Wise, who does what He does in terms of outward vanquishing that entails all-embracing graciousness within, or [who does what He does] in terms of outward graciousness that entails total vanquishing within by His wisdom; the Aware, the One who has knowledge of the hidden aspects of their states and the deservingness of these of grace or vanquishing.
