things. There is nothing but a living being. Life is the condition validating the other attributes: knowledge, will, and speech.
(The Report of Circumambulation and Adam’s Addition)
A report relates that when Gabriel taught Adam circumambulation of the House, he told him, ‘We circumambulated the House such-and-such thousand years before you were created.’ Adam asked him, ‘What did you say when circumambulating it?’ Gabriel said, ‘We used to say: Glory be to God, praise be to God, there is no god but God, and God is greater.’ Adam said, ‘I add for you: There is no might and no power except through God.’ Adam, peace be upon him, was thus singled out for this treasure.
(Might and Power according to Receptivity)
Nothing stands between you and what you are receptive to, which would harm you if you received it and lower you from your rank—I mean your rank of perfection—to your animality, except God. You have no power to perform the works with which He charged you except through God.
Likewise, nothing stands between the Real, despite His power, and what can have existence only through you, except you when you are not. Your being is therefore necessary for what can exist only through you. There is no power—that is, when you are not, no power takes effect in an affair that appears only through you. Through the division, the reality of ‘There is no might and no power except through God’ appears within you and within Him, according to the states requiring it.
(The Angelic Part and Remembrance within Prayer)
None is more encompassing than the all-encompassing human being, and no part within him is nobler than his angelic part, just as remembrance of God within prayer is the noblest part of
Notes
Translator’s note: The explanation of hawl, rendered “might” in the invocation, draws upon hala, “to stand or intervene between.”
