The Almighty Lord has many modes of action at every moment, and brings about whichever He wills. Among them are “giving life, bringing death, creating, providing sustenance, granting honour, casting into humiliation, and so on.”
It may be surmised that the Creator of existence has, at every moment, a particular mode of action—commensurate with the capacity and circumstances of His creatures and with His own divine will—corresponding to the number of His Most Beautiful Names and Exalted Attributes.
(يلحظ إلیه فی کل یوم ثلاثمائه و ستین لحظه یحیی و یمیت و یخلق و یرزق و یعز و یذل و یفعل ما یشاء)
Indeed, the hadith quoted above bears a special relation to the noble verse «لک یوم هو فی شان».
لله الأمر و کل یوم ربنا هو فی شأن إن نزل القضاء بما نحب
یسئله من فی السماوات و الأرض کل یوم هو فی شأن یا من هو کل یوم فی شأن صل على محمد و آله «149» و اجعل لی فی شأنک شأن حاجتی و اقض «150» فی شأنک حاجتی و حاجتی هی فکاک رقبتی من النار و الأمان من سخطک «151» و الفوز برضوانک
إن الأمر لله یفعل ما یشاء و ربنا تبارک کل یوم هو فی شأن
فإن نزل القضاء فالحمد لله على نعمائه و هو المستعان على أداء الشکر و إن حال القضاء دون الرجاء فلم یبعد من الحق
کل یوم هو فی شأن لا یشغله شأن عن شأن ذلک الله رب العالمین و به تحصین أولیائه و هم له خائفون
He said: “The Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) said: ‘God, exalted is He, is each day engaged in a matter.’”
Among His acts are forgiving a sin, relieving distress, raising one people and lowering others.
*Bihār al-Anwār* (Beirut edition), vol. 4, p. 71
The third report: The king of Rome wrote to ʿAbd al-Malik: “I have eaten the flesh of the camel on which your father fled from Medina. I shall attack you with an army of one hundred thousand, then another one hundred thousand, then another one hundred thousand.” ʿAbd al-Malik wrote to al-Ḥajjāj, instructing him to summon Zayn al-ʿĀbidīn (peace be upon him), threaten him, and ask what he would say. He did so. ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥusayn (peace be upon him) replied: “God has a Preserved Tablet upon which He gazes three hundred times each day. Not one of those moments passes without His giving life and causing death, granting honour and bringing humiliation, and doing whatever He wills. I hope that one of those moments will suffice to protect you.” Al-Ḥajjāj sent this reply to ʿAbd al-Malik, who in turn sent it to the king of Rome. When the king read it, he said: “This can only have come from the words of prophethood.”
*Bihār al-Anwār* (Beirut edition), vol. 46, p. 133
It is related from Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning the words “a Preserved Tablet,” that he said: “I was told it is a single tablet containing the Remembrance, made of light, and that it is three hundred years’ journey in length.”
Ibn ʿAbbās also said: “God created the Preserved Tablet a hundred years’ journey in length. Before creating creation, He said to the Pen: ‘Write My knowledge concerning My creation.’ The Pen then wrote all that is to come to pass until the Day of Resurrection.”
Anas relates that the Messenger of God (peace be upon him) said: “Before the Most Merciful, blessed and exalted is He, is a tablet containing three hundred and fifteen laws. The Most Merciful says: ‘By My might and majesty, no servant of Mine who does not associate anything with Me and fulfils even one of these shall come to Me without My admitting him to Paradise.’”
*Bihār al-Anwār* (Beirut edition), vol. 54, p. 376
Ibn ʿAbbās relates that the Messenger of God (peace be upon him) said: “God created a tablet of white pearl, with two covers of green emerald and writing of light. He gazes upon it three hundred and sixty times each day, giving life and causing death, creating and providing sustenance, granting honour and bringing humiliation, and doing whatever He wills.”
*Bihār al-Anwār* (Beirut edition), vol. 54, p. 377
I heard Abū ʿAbd Allāh (peace be upon him) say: “My father (peace be upon him) said that Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥanafiyya was a man of unshakable resolve.” He gestured with his hand. “He was circumambulating the House when al-Ḥajjāj encountered him and said, ‘I have considered striking the part of you that holds your eyes.’ Muḥammad replied, ‘Never! Each day, God—blessed is His name—has three hundred moments or glances concerning His creation. Perhaps one of them will suffice to keep you from harming me.’”
*Al-Tawḥīd* (al-Ṣadūq), p. 128