563 — Al-Firyābī informed us, saying: Ahmad ibn Abī al-Hawārī narrated to us, dictating it to me. He said: I said to Abū Sulaymān al-Dārānī, “Whoever desires high standing should be humble in his acts of obedience.” He replied, “Woe to you! What is humility? Humility is simply that you do not admire ⦗965⦘ your own deeds. How could any rational person admire his deeds? We regard the deed itself as a blessing from Allah Most High, for which one should thank Allah Most High and humble oneself. Only a Qadarī admires his deeds, for he claims that he performs them himself. But how could one who believes that he is being employed in obedience admire them?”

Muhammad ibn al-Husayn said: It is said to the Qadarī: O you whom Satan has made his plaything! O you who deny that Allah Most High created evil! Is Iblis not the source of every evil? Did Allah not create him? Did Allah Most High not create the devils and send them against whomever He willed, so that they might lead them astray from the path of right guidance? What argument do you have, O Qadarī? O you who have been deprived of divine guidance and enablement! Did Allah Most High not say:

“We appointed companions for them, who made alluring to them what lay before them and what lay behind them” [Fussilat: 25],

down to His words:

“Indeed, they were losers” [Fussilat: 25]?

And the Most High said:

“Whoever turns away from the remembrance of the Most Merciful, We appoint for him a devil who becomes his constant companion. They indeed bar them from the path, while they suppose that they are rightly guided” [al-Zukhruf: 37].

And the Most High said:

“Have you not seen that We have sent the devils against the disbelievers, relentlessly inciting them?” [Maryam: 83]