denied with certainty. Allah knows best. (1)

Shaykh Muhammad Mutawallī al-Shaʿrāwī (may Allah have mercy on him) was asked: “What, then, are the two elements through which envy takes effect?” He replied: “There are two elements: a natural power within the envier and a volitional element, namely his wish to cause harm. Someone may ask, ‘Why did Allah make it so?’ I reply: Why does our Lord give some people physical powers by which they can tyrannize others? That is the trial and the test. Allah Most High has taught us to seek refuge from it, so it must entail harm and evil, whether or not we understand it.” (2)

I say: This may be explained as follows. Allah Most High has placed particular properties within things that remain inseparable from them unless He permits otherwise, and He has appointed causes and effects: when a cause is set in motion, its effects follow. This is among Allah Most High’s established ways in the universe. He placed in fire the property of burning; in water, fluidity and flow; in the earth, the property of attraction; in magnets, the property of attracting iron; and in the eyes of some of His creatures, both jinn and humankind, the capacity to cause harm through envy. He has also placed other properties within created beings, such as the transference of the body’s natural state. All of this is created by Allah Most High. Allah is the Creator of all things, their causes, and their effects; He is the Creator of His servants and their acts. Al-Bukhārī (may Allah have mercy on him) authored a book entitled The Creation of Human Acts. I introduced this issue solely to refute the Asharites, for one thing calls another to mind.

To explain the issue at somewhat greater length, I say: What I have stated is the position of all the scholars, and none have disagreed except the Asharites. They deny that anything can exert an effect upon anything else and maintain that