Thus, these two responses given by these two imams in the generation of the Successors’ successors are among the finest answers.

As for al-Zubaydī—Muhammad ibn al-Walīd, the companion of al-Zuhrī—he said:

“Allah’s command is too great, and His power too great, for Him to compel or obstruct.”

He thus denied compulsion. This is because compulsion, in its familiar linguistic sense, means forcing a person to do something against his will. Thus, in their discussions of marriage, jurists ask: “May a woman be compelled to marry or not? And if her guardian prevents her from marrying, what should she do?” By compelling her, they mean marrying her off without her consent and choice; by obstructing her, they mean preventing her from what she willingly chooses.

He therefore said: “Allah is too great to compel or obstruct.” For Allah, glorified is He, is able to make the servant freely choose and willingly accept what he does, and dislike and detest what he refrains from doing—as is indeed the case. The servant is therefore not compelled to do what he loves, willingly accepts, and desires: these are his voluntary actions. Nor is he obstructed from what he refrains from doing because he dislikes and detests it, or does not desire it: these are the things he voluntarily leaves undone.

As for al-Awzāʿī, he prohibited using this expression, even if this meaning was intended by it, since it had no basis in the Quran or the Sunnah. Its use would lead to employing an innovated expression that plainly suggests a false meaning is intended. This is not permissible, even if it is said that a sound meaning is intended.