compelled His servants to commit sins).

It was then narrated from ‘Amr ibn ‘Uthmān, from Baqiyyah ibn al-Walīd, who said:

“I asked al-Zubaydī and al-Awzā‘ī about compulsion. Al-Zubaydī replied: ‘Allah’s authority is too great, and His power too great, for Him to compel or obstruct. Rather, He decrees, ordains, creates, and fashions His servant’s disposition toward what he loves.’

“Al-Awzā‘ī said: ‘I know of no basis for compulsion in the Quran or the Sunnah, so I am reluctant to speak of it. But decree, ordainment, creation, and the fashioning of dispositions are recognized in the Quran and in the hadith narrated from Allah’s Messenger. I have set this forth only for fear that a man among the Followers, adhering to the community and affirming the truth, might fall into doubt.’”

These two answers, given by these two imams in the generation following the Followers, are among the finest answers.

Al-Zubaydī is Muhammad ibn al-Walīd, a companion of al-Zuhrī. He said: “Allah’s authority is too great, and His power too great, for Him to compel or obstruct.” Thus he denied compulsion, because the familiar linguistic meaning of compulsion is to force someone to do something against his consent. Thus, in their discussions of marriage, the jurists ask: “May a woman be compelled to marry, or not? And if her guardian prevents her from marrying, what should she do?” By compelling her, they mean marrying her off without her consent or choice; by obstructing her, they mean preventing her from what she consents to and chooses.

He therefore said: “Allah is too great to compel or obstruct,” because Allah, glorified be He, is able to make the servant love and willingly accept what he does, and hate and dislike what he refrains from doing—as is indeed the case. Thus the servant is not compelled to do what he chooses, willingly accepts, and desires, namely, “his acts