obtains—and everything comes to pass by His decree. His will prevails; the servants have no will save what He wills for them—whatever He wills for them…

The punishment, then, is for the servant’s own deeds, not for the deeds of Allah, exalted is He. It is the servant who performs the prayer, pays the alms-due, makes the pilgrimage, and strives in jihad; the acts are attributed to him, not to Allah, except in the respects of creation, foreknowledge, predestination, and divine enabling.

There is no doubt that everything is encompassed by His determination—good and evil, obedience and disobedience, disbelief and faith, sickness and health, wealth and poverty, knowledge and ignorance. All unfolds according to His decree; within His dominion there is nothing that He has not decreed or willed.

Allah possesses a will, and the servants possess a will; yet the servants’ will is subordinate to His and not independent. Hence His words: “You do not will except that Allah wills. Indeed, Allah is All-Knowing, All-Wise” (al-Insan 76:30), and: “You do not will except that Allah, Lord of all realms, wills” (al-Takwir 81:29). Thus He affirmed for Himself a will—one of His attributes—and affirmed for His servants a will—one of their attributes—while binding their will to His. In this lies a refutation of both the Qadariyyah and the Jabariyyah: the Qadariyyah deny Allah’s will regarding the servants’ deeds and grant the servant an unrestricted, autonomous will, claiming that the servant—