The fortunate person, then, is the one whose repentance from ignorance and wrongdoing Allah accepts; otherwise, man is unjust and ignorant. When injustice and ignorance affect major matters of public concern, they breed enmity and hatred among people. A person must therefore strive for knowledge and justice in what he says about people’s views, for judging these matters with knowledge and justice is even more important than doing so in minor matters.

The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said:

“Judges are of three kinds: two are in the Fire, and one is in Paradise. A man who knows the truth and judges accordingly is in Paradise; a man who judges people’s cases in ignorance is in the Fire; and a man who knows the truth but judges contrary to it is in the Fire.”

If this applies to someone adjudicating over a dirham and a garment, what, then, of someone who judges fundamental matters involving discourse about the Lord of all worlds, His creation and His command, His promise and His warning?

Thus, when these Qadariyyah—who maintain that an agent endowed with power and choice can give preference to one of two equivalent possibilities over the other without a determining factor—agreed upon this principle and used it to debate the heretics who upheld the eternity of the world, among the materialist philosophers and others, the latter saw that this involved neither knowledge nor justice and became emboldened against these Qadariyyah.

For when a person adheres to justice, he is granted victory over his opponent; but when he departs from it, he emboldens