“Refutation of the Qadariyya and their statement that God has compelled His servants to commit sins.”

He then transmitted—through ʿAmr b. ʿUthmān, from Baqiyyah b. al-Walīd—that he said: “I asked al-Zubaydī and al-Awzāʿī about compulsion (jabr).”

Al-Zubaydī replied, “God’s command is far greater, and His power far mightier, than for Him to compel or to constrain. Rather, He decrees and determines, He creates and molds His servant in the manner He wills.”

Al-Awzāʿī said, “I know of no foundation for the notion of ‘compulsion’ in either the Quran or the Sunnah, and I shrink from uttering it. What the Quran and the hadith of the Messenger of God ﷺ do speak of is divine decree (qaḍāʾ), predestination (qadar), creation, and innate disposition (jibillah). I have set this out only so that no Successor among the people of the community and of true belief should fall into doubt.”

These two replies, offered by those two imams in the generation of the Successors of the Successors, are among the finest responses given on the subject.

As for “al-Zubaydī”—that is, Muḥammad b. al-Walīd, the associate of al-Zuhrī—he declared, “God’s command is too exalted and His power too great for Him to compel or to constrain.”

He thereby denied compulsion, because the word jabr in common Arabic usage means forcing a person to act against his consent. Jurists, for example, say in the chapter on marriage: “Is a woman compelled to marry, or not? And if her guardian prevents her, what should be done?”

By “compelling” her they mean marrying her off without her acceptance and choice; by “constraining” her they mean preventing her from something she approves and selects.

Thus al-Zubaydī said, “God is far above compelling or constraining,” for God—exalted be He—is able to make the servant love and consent to what he does, and to make him detest and abhor what he leaves undone, as is in fact the case. Hence the servant is not compelled in what he himself chooses, is pleased with, and wills.