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You said "For example, translating the word hawla as "power" is an over-simplification."
No ..
The translating of this word "hawla" is "change" not "power";
In modern Arabic. This isn't modern. Lane's dictionary would be a better source, which also explicates upon the mean meaning of the word in the phrasal context: "There is no strength nor power but in, or by means of, God, the High, the Great. Or, here it signifies motion; and the meaning is, there is no motion nor power, or ability, but by the will of God. Or, as some say the meaning is, there is no howl [i.e. changing, or turning, or receding] from disobedience, nor qowa [i.e. power] to obey, but by the accommodating or disposing of God." http://www.tyndalearchive.com/tabs/lane/ --129.67.144.2 (talk) 12:40, 19 February 2013 (UTC)