except the human being, who claims greatness, might, and overpowering against God, blessed and exalted is He.
The jinn claim this over created beings beneath them in their supposition, like Iblis’s arrogance toward Adam, peace be upon him, in respect of his constitution. Hence he said, “Shall I prostrate to one You created as clay?” [al-Israʾ 17:61]. He saw the element fire as nobler than the element earth and said, “I am better than he: You created me from fire and created him from clay” [al-Aʿraf 7:12]. He was not arrogant toward God, mighty and majestic. Alone among all creatures, the human being is particular to this attribute.
(Expressions of Comparison and the Human Form)
When such a claim occurred in existence and was realized within its claimant and whoever believed it concerning him, like Pharaoh and those of his people he made light of, God placed “more such-and-such than” within existence as comparison, as though affirming and establishing that claim. He said, “God is greater,” using the afʿal form. He said, God bless him and grant him peace, “God is higher and more majestic,” using afʿal.
Every “more such-and-such than” describing God’s majesty arises because a claim shares in that attribute. Some of this is praised and some blamed. The blamed is what Pharaoh claimed; the praised is like His saying of Himself that He is “the Most Merciful of the merciful” [al-Aʿraf 7:151] and “the best of creators” [al-Muʾminun 23:14], using afʿal. He praised His merciful servants by making Himself more merciful to His creation than they.
As for His general affirmation, their mercy is a reality He brought into existence within them,
