and pleasure; rather, they treated everything willed as something loved and pleasing.

One group then said: “Muslims agree that disbelief, wickedness, and disobedience are not loved, so they cannot be willed. They therefore occur without His will, meaning that things He does not will occur within His dominion. Thus, what He does not will occurs, while He wills things that do not occur.”

The other group said instead: “He wills everything that comes into being, for whatever He wills occurs, and whatever He does not will does not occur. Disbelief, wickedness, and disobedience are willed by Him, so they must be loved and pleasing. He must therefore love and be pleased; thus, He loves and is pleased with disbelief, wickedness, and disobedience.” This group placed what is commanded and what is forbidden on an equal footing, considering both loved and pleasing. Their position therefore entails nullifying commands and prohibitions, promises and threats, even if they do not accept that consequence.

The first group said: “What He does not will occurs, while He wills things that do not occur.” Their position therefore entails that He is powerless and overcome, although they do not honor His incapacity.

Thus, one group failed to affirm Allah’s sovereignty, and the other failed to affirm His praiseworthiness. Yet sovereignty and praise belong to Allah Most High.

The former sought to affirm His divinity—that He is worshipped and praised, wise and just—but fell short in doing so, denying Him what His lordship, power, and will entail.

The latter affirmed what His lordship, power, and will entail, but diminished what His divinity, wisdom, mercy, and praiseworthiness entail.

These matters are discussed at length elsewhere.