532 — Abu Sahl ibn Abi Sahl also narrated to us, saying: Amr ibn Alī narrated to us, saying: Hammād ibn Masada narrated to us, saying: Ziyād Abū Amr narrated to me, saying: Muhammad ibn Ibrāhīm al-Qurashī narrated to us, from his father, who said: I was sitting with Ibn ⦗937⦘ Umar when he was asked about divine decree. He replied: “It is a matter that Allah Most High has willed not to disclose to you, so do not seek from Allah Most High what He has withheld from you.”

Muhammad ibn al-Husayn, may Allah have mercy on him, said: This is the meaning of what Umar ibn Abd al-Azīz said in his letter to the Qadariyya, namely: “If you say, ‘Allah has said such-and-such in His Book,’ they are to be told: ‘They—meaning the Companions—read from it what you have read and understood of its interpretation what you did not know. Yet after all that, they said: It is all written and decreed. He has decreed wretchedness; whatever has been decreed will occur; whatever He wills comes to pass, and whatever He does not will does not come to pass. We have no power either to harm or benefit ourselves.’ Yet after that, they continued to hope and fear. Peace.”