universe except by Allah’s decree and predestination; believing this is indispensable.

Allah—exalted is He—created both good and evil for a wise purpose. He says, “We test you with evil and with good as a trial, and to Us you will return” (Al-Anbiyaʾ 35). Through this test the people of faith, monotheism, and submission to Allah are distinguished from the people of disbelief, idolatry, and atheism; were there no good, such a distinction could never be made.

Good is loved by Allah; He creates it and ordains it. Evil is hated by Allah and incurs His wrath, yet He still creates and decrees it for a purpose—namely, trial and examination. If evil did not exist, disbelief and hostility toward the prophets and messengers would never become manifest; and if good did not exist, there would be no jihad, no commanding right and forbidding wrong, no loyalty and disavowal, and people would not be differentiated.

An objector might say, “Allah detests polytheism and disbelief, so how can He decree them?” We reply: He decreed them for a wise purpose—so that people might be distinguished—as He says, “Allah would not leave the believers in the state you are in until He distinguishes the wicked from the good; nor would Allah disclose to you the unseen” (Al-ʿImran 179). We recognize the obedient and the disobedient only through their deeds; it is those deeds that separate the wretched from the blessed.

Matters can be set right only when opposites exist.

Ability (istiṭāʿa) is the power found in a human being, and it is of two kinds: the ability that makes performance of an act obligatory—such as the divine enabling (tawfiq) that it is impermissible to attribute to any created being—accompanies the act itself; as for the ability that arises from—