I disbelieve, act wickedly, and disobey.” Indeed, he says, “I shall disbelieve, act wickedly, and disobey so that He punishes me, and I shall be content with His punishment, thereby attaining the station of contentment with His decree.” Such are the words of one of the most ignorant, foolish, misguided, and unbelieving of all people.

His ignorance and foolishness lie in the fact that such contentment is impossible and unattainable, and that this entails affirming two mutually contradictory things. His unbelief lies in the fact that this entails nullifying Allah’s religion, with which He sent His messengers and revealed His Books. Undoubtedly, preoccupation with divine decree and predestination has led many spiritual aspirants among the Sufis to neglect commands and commit forbidden acts, thereby becoming either deficient and deprived of good, disobedient, defiantly sinful, or unbelieving. I have witnessed many forms of this.

“Whoever Allah grants no light will have no light.”
(Surah al-Nūr, 40)

These people and the Muʿtazilah and others like them among the Qadariyyah stand at opposite extremes. These people attend to predestination and turn away from the command, while the others attend to the command and turn away from predestination. Both groups think that attending to the command