defiantly disobey, whereas the unambiguous text bearing on it is the Most High’s statement: ‘Indeed, Allah does not command immorality’ [al-A‘rāf 28].”

The response is: Even granting that its apparent meaning is that they were commanded to defiantly disobey, it is nevertheless known that commands in the Quran are of two kinds: prescriptive commands, such as the commands of the revealed laws with which the prophets were sent, and creative commands, as in the Most High’s statement:

“His command, when He intends a thing, is only to say to it, ‘Be,’ and it is (82)” [Yā Sīn 82].

And His statement:

“And Allah’s command is a decree firmly determined (38)” [al-Ahzāb 38].

That is, what He has commanded. Likewise, the Most High’s statement:

“The command of Allah has come, so do not seek to hasten it” [al-Nahl 1].

This means what He has commanded through His creative command—what He has determined and decreed concerning the manifestation of faith, reward and punishment, victory for the believers, and punishment for the disbelievers. Another example is the Most High’s statement:

“And Our command is but one, like a glance of the eye (50)” [al-Qamar 50].

There are other similar passages. Since commands are of two kinds, what He intends here is the creative command. These verses themselves, together with the passages immediately preceding and following them, indicate the reality of the matter, just as other passages of the Quran do. Before this verse, He says:

“We have bound every person’s deeds to his neck, and on the Day of Resurrection We will bring forth for him a record which he will find spread open (13). ‘Read your record. You yourself are sufficient this day to take account of yourself’ (14). Whoever is guided is guided only for his own benefit, and whoever goes astray does so only to his own detriment. No bearer of burdens will bear the burden of another, and We never punish until We send