And say: ‘Praise be to God, Who has neither taken a son, nor has He any partner in sovereignty, in divineness, nor has He [taken] any ally, to assist Him, out of, because of [any], weakness’, that is to say, He would never become weak and thus need an assistant. And magnify Him with magnifications [worthy of Him], extol Him with a perfect extolling above that He should have taken a son or a partner, and [above] any weakness and [above] all that does not befit Him. The arrangement whereby ‘praise’ is [invoked] together with this [statement] is meant to indicate that He is the One worthy of all praise, because of the perfection of His Essence and the fact that He alones possesses those attributes of His. Imam Ahmad [b. Hanbal] relates in his Musnad [by way of a report] from Mu‘ādh al-Juhanī [who heard it] from the Messenger of God (s), who used to say, ‘The “glory” verse [in the Qur’ān] is: Praise be to God, Who has neither taken a son, nor has He any partner in sovereignty … to the end [of the above-mentioned sūra, 17:111]’, and God, exalted be He, knows best.