and this is an infinite regress that all rational people agree is impossible, for it is a regress in causal efficacy as such. He creates nothing except through “Be”; thus, if He did not create “Be,” He would create nothing. Yet if He created “Be,” He would have created something without “Be.” This entails an impossible circularity, which necessarily combines two contradictories: its being both existent and nonexistent.

Moreover, if we suppose that He created the first through the second, the second through the third, and so on, they must all exist at the same instant. For each one is a prerequisite for the second, and these are things whose existence is required for causal efficacy. They must therefore exist when the effect exists, just like ability and power, the agent’s life and knowledge, and all the other prerequisites of action: all must exist when the act occurs.

For this reason, the adherents of the Sunnah who affirm divine decree agree that ability must accompany the act. They hold two views, however, on whether, in the case of a created being, it can exist before the act and remain until the act occurs.

As for the Creator, they agree that His ability remains continuously present until the act occurs.

The correct view, held by the early generations and the leading jurists, is that ability exists before the act and remains until it occurs.

They therefore allow that ability may exist without the act, as in the case of those who disobey. Were this not so, anyone who disbelieved and disobeyed Allah would necessarily have been incapable of obeying Him, which contradicts the Quran and the Sunnah.

Allah Most High says:

“Pilgrimage to the House is a duty people owe to Allah—those who are able to make their way to it.”
[Āl ‘Imrān: 97]

And He says:

“So fear Allah as much as you are able.”
[al-Taghābun: 16]