knew that he would not perform them—and an incapable person who could not perform the act even if he wished to do so, has equated two things whose difference is self-evident, both rationally and religiously. This is one of the sources of doctrinal deviation among the Qadariyyah and their brethren, the Jabriyyah. Once this is understood, making the unqualified assertion that obligations beyond one’s capacity are imposed is recognized as one of the innovations introduced into Islam.

The same applies to asserting without qualification that people are compelled to perform their acts. The early generations of the Muslim community and its imams unanimously rejected this and censured anyone who used such language, even if he intended thereby to refute the Qadariyyah, who do not acknowledge that Allah creates people’s acts or that He has willed all that occurs. They said that this amounts to refuting one innovation with another, countering error with error and falsehood with falsehood. Were this response not too brief to permit an extended discussion, I would quote their explicit statements demonstrating their rejection of this.

If, however, one explains precisely what the speaker means and sets forth the truth in language that does not confuse truth with falsehood, clearly distinguishing between the two, this constitutes sound discernment. Such clarification then falls outside the scope of the censure directed at people of this kind, whom the imams described as disagreeing over Allah’s Book, opposing Allah’s Book, and agreeing to abandon Allah’s Book. They also described them as using ambiguous language, distorting words from their proper meanings, and deceiving ignorant people through the confusion they create for them.

For this reason, they included the advocates of compulsion among the censured Qadariyyah, because they engaged in false discourse concerning divine decree. This is the common feature for which the Qadariyyah were censured. Thus Imām Abū Bakr al-Khallāl introduced a chapter in his Book of the Sunnah with the heading: (Refutation of the Qadariyyah and their claim that Allah