“In order to understand this better, you may compare the relation of the divine agent to the Divine Principle with that of the rays of the sun to the sun. This is not an exact comparison, but it is true insofar as the rays of the sun have no independence with respect to the sun, and the divine agent similarly lacks independence with respect to that principle of absolute good from which its existence is derived -that is, it cannot come into existence or remain in existence independently. If the rays of existence depart from a being for a single instant it will not be able to subsist for a single instant, for just as it depends on the principle in order to come into existence, it also depends on it in order to remain in existence. Having no standing of its own, then, it is reabsorbed into the principle.
This being the case, the manifestation of God’s Names is, in a sense, identical with the names themselves. ‘God is the light of the heavens and the earth (الله نور السماوات و الأرض)’ – the light is the manifestation of God, not God, but the manifestation has no existence apart from the principal from which it derives. It is reabsorbed in it since it possesses no independence. It is in this sense that we are to understand: ‘God is the light of the heavens and the earth.’
Returning to ‘praise (الحمد),’ we see that the definite article has a generic sense and connects it with the expression ‘In the Name of God (بسم الله)’ which precedes it, so we concluded that every instance of praise, by whomever it is uttered, takes place by means of that which is praised; from a certain point of view, they are one and the same, the instance of manifestation and the general principle of manifestation.
When the Prophet (صلى الله عليه و آله و سلم) said, ‘You are as You praise Yourself (أنت كما أثنيت على نفسك)’ or “I take refuge in You from You (أعوذ بك منك)”, then the path of what is indicated is that the one who praises is effaced in the One Who is praised. It is as if God is praising God. No one else enjoys any real existence that enables them to say, ‘I am praising God,’ but it is God who praises God.”
[From the Lectures on Sūrah al-Fātiḥa]
A Mercy Case 