while that one is a Rāfiḍī.
You also witness the enemies of God prevailing over His loyal servants, putting them to death by every conceivable means and rending them limb from limb.
You see humanity divided into ranks of favor. Among them is a people whom God began by showering with blessings: He settled them in the fertile parts of the earth, honored them, placed others in their service, made their faces comely and their complexions fair, watered them with sweet, refreshing springs, provided them with every wholesome delight, fed them all manner of fruits, endowed them with abundant intellect and understanding, loosed their tongues with wisdom and filled their minds with knowledge. He even sent the messengers to arise from among them and in their very midst—the people of this region in which God, by His grace, has made our dwelling.
Then there is another people whom He lodged on the outer fringes of the earth, in barren, desolate lands; He humbled them, left them unclothed, distorted their features, darkened their skins, gave them nothing to drink but brackish, salty water, made their sustenance insects and wild plants, stripped them of sound reason, and placed them far from the birthplaces of the messengers and the reach of the call. They are like cattle—indeed, even more astray. Thereafter He made them the fuel and fodder of Hell—such as the Zanj, many groups of black Africans, various non-Arab peoples, and Gog and Magog. Can any of these plead against God on the grounds that He granted to others what He withheld from them?
By God, no one has any case against Him; no right precedes Him; and none shares with Him in what He creates. His case is irrefutable, and He does whatever He wills.
The just position regarding divine decree is to know that God is perfectly just and never wrongs: in the way He creates, in the way He decrees, in how He gives, and how He withholds. Nothing escapes His power, and nothing occurs in His dominion—whether in the heavens or on earth—except what He wills. No one can claim any obligation upon Him, and no right stands before Him. If He bestows, it is pure grace; if He withholds, it is sheer justice. The servants are able, they act, and they will be recompensed for what they earn. Yet God possesses a subtle mercy that He initiates for whomever He wills and confers upon whomever He loves; He places it in their hearts so that they turn back to His obedience, while He may withhold it