“Almighty God is above all relations which infer giving birth and being born. He is exempt from having any partners, helpers, or fellows. His relations with all beings are those of Creator. He creates through His pre-eternal will with the command of “‘Be!’, and it is”(36:82). He is far beyond having any relation which is contrary to perfection, or is compelling, necessitating, or involuntary.” And the share in understanding of a higher class still: “Almighty God is pre-eternal and post-eternal, He is the First and the Last. Neither in His essence, nor in His attributes, nor in His actions, has He in any way any equal, peer, like, or match, or anything similar, resembling, or analogous to Him. Only, in His acts, there may be comparisons expressing similarity:

And God’s is the highest similitude.(16:60)

You can draw analogies with the above for other classes, which all receive different shares, such as those who have attained knowledge of God, the lovers of God, and the truly sincere.

A Second Example:

Muhammad is not the father of any of your men.(33:40)

The share in understanding this of the first class: “Zayd, the servant of God’s Noble Messenger (Upon whom be blessings and peace), whom he also addressed as ‘my son,’ divorced his stately wife because he did not find himself equal to her. On God’s command, the Messenger (UWBP) took her. The verse says: ‘If the Prophet calls you son, it is in respect of his messengership. In regard to his person, he is not your father, so that the women he takes should be unsuitable for him.’”

The second class’s share is this: “A great ruler looks on his subjects with paternal compassion. If he is a spiritual monarch ruling both outwardly and inwardly, then since his compassion goes a hundred times beyond that of a father, his subjects look on him as a father and on themselves as his real sons. A father’s view cannot be transformed into that of a husband, and a daughter’s view cannot be easily transformed into the view of a wife, so since the Prophet’s taking the believers’ daughters would seem inappropriate, the Qur’an says: ‘The Prophet (UWBP) acts kindly towards you with the eye of divine compassion and treats you in a fatherly manner. In respect of his messengership, you are like his children, but with regard to his human person, he is not your father so that his taking a wife from among you should be unfitting.’”

The third group would understand it like this: “You should not claim a connection with the Prophet (UWBP), and relying on his perfections and trusting in his fatherly compassion, commit errors and faults.” Yes, many