Yaʿlā narrated to us from Muḥammad ibn Kaʿb, who said, “He is called al-Jabbār (the Compeller) only because He compels the creation to what He wills.”

Accordingly, if one simply refrains from using an ambiguous, equivocal term, the danger is removed. Such abstention is better than negating the term outright, for although its apparent sense may suggest a corrupt meaning, a blanket negation might lead people to assume that both the sound and the unsound meanings have been rejected together.

The same principle applies to denying the servant’s “capacity” (ṭāqa) with regard to what he is commanded to do, for affirming jabr (compulsion) in prohibitions is parallel to stripping the servant of capacity in obligations.

This is exactly what Imām Aḥmad and the other leading authorities of the Sunnah used to say. Al-Khallāl reports: al-Maymūnī told us, “I heard Abū ʿAbdullāh—meaning Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal—debating Khālid ibn Khaddāsh about qadar. They mentioned a certain man, and Abū ʿAbdullāh said, ‘What I dislike in his words is his saying, “Allah compelled (ajbara).”’”

Al-Marwazī also related: I said to Abū ʿAbdullāh, “A man says, ‘Allah has compelled the servants.’” He replied, “Do not speak like that,” disapproving of the statement and reciting, “He leads astray whom He wills and He guides whom He wills.”

Al-Marwazī further said: ʿAbd al-Wahhāb wrote to me about the case of Ḥasan ibn Khalaf al-ʿUkbarī, stating that he had renounced his father’s inheritance. A Qadarī remarked, “Allah has not compelled the servants to commit sins,” whereupon Aḥmad ibn Rajāʾ retorted, “Allah has compelled the servants to whatever He wills,” intending thereby to affirm qadar. Aḥmad ibn ʿAlī then composed a treatise to defend this view. I brought the book to Abū ʿAbdullāh, told him the story, and he exclaimed, “And he even writes a book!”

He censured all of them: Ibn Rajāʾ for saying, “He compelled the servants,” the Qadarī for saying, “He did not compel,” and Aḥmad ibn ʿAlī for authoring the treatise and arguing from it. He ordered that Aḥmad ibn ʿAlī be boycotted for writing the book and said to me, “Ibn Rajāʾ must seek his Lord’s forgiveness.”