the Sunnah, and finds that he does not neglect his affairs but manages them resolutely, he should follow him closely.

Abū al-ʿAbbās Thaʿlab was asked about Allah’s words, “Whose heart We have made heedless of Our remembrance.” He replied: “We made him heedless.” He added: “In Arabic usage, aghfaltuhu can also mean ‘I called him heedless’ or ‘I found him heedless.’”

I say: Ghufl denotes something empty. Land described as ghufl has no distinguishing markers, and a written text described as ghufl has no vowel marks. Thus, “We made him heedless” means that We left him heedless of remembrance, devoid of it. This leaves him in his original state of lacking remembrance, for Allah, glorified is He, did not will remembrance for him, so he remained heedless. Heedlessness is his attribute, whereas making him heedless is Allah’s action upon him, through His willing it and His not willing that he should remember. Each entails his heedlessness. If He does not will remembrance for him, he will not remember; and if He wills his heedlessness, remembrance becomes impossible for him.

If it is asked: “Are heedlessness, disbelief, turning away, and the like attributed to the Lord’s not willing their opposites, or to His not willing their occurrence?”

The answer is: The Quran has spoken of both. Allah Most High says:

“Those are the ones whose hearts Allah does not intend to purify.” (5:41)

He also says:

“Whomever Allah intends to put to trial, you can do nothing for him against Allah.” (5:41)

And He says:

“Whoever Allah wills to guide, He opens his heart to Islam; and whoever He wills to lead astray, He makes his heart tight and constricted, as though he were climbing into the sky.” (6:125)

If it is asked: “How can the absence of an effective cause necessitate an effect?”

The answer is: If the effect is something existent, it must have an existent cause. As for nonexistence, the absence of a cause that would bring about and necessitate existence suffices: the thing remains in its original state of nonexistence. Attributing this to the absence of its cause is an instance of attributing something to that which indicates it. The absence of the cause indicates the absence of the effect.

If, in this sense, it is said to necessitate or entail the effect, there is no dispute over the terminology. But treating nonexistence itself as an effect and an efficient cause is not admissible.