in creating them, is able to give life to the dead?” There are many similar passages showing that He has power to perform “acts,” such as giving life, resurrecting, and the like.

As for “power over entities,” it is reported in the Sahīh that Abū Mas‘ūd said: “I was beating a slave of mine when the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, saw me and said, ‘Know, Abū Mas‘ūd, that Allah has greater power over you than you have over this slave.’” His words, “Allah has greater power over you than you have over this slave,” demonstrate that power pertains to entities separate from the agent—both “the Lord’s power” and “the servant’s power.”

Some, such as the Karrāmiyyah, say that both powers pertain to acts. Others, such as the Ash‘ariyyah, say that the Lord’s power pertains to what is separate from Him, whereas the servant’s power pertains only to an act occurring in the locus in which that power subsists. The “scriptural texts,” however, indicate that both powers pertain to what subsists in the agent and to what is separate from him. For Allah, Exalted is He, has stated that the servant has the ability to perform his acts, as in His words:

“So fear Allah as much as you are able.”

And His words:

“And whoever among you cannot afford to marry free believing women, then let him marry from among the slave women whom you possess.”

This indicates that some of us have this ability while others do not. The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said:

“Young men, whoever among you is able to marry should marry. Whoever is unable should fast, for it will curb his sexual desire.”

Both al-Bukhārī and Muslim recorded it in their Sahīhs.

He also said:

“If you can act with contentment and certainty, then do so.”

And in the hadith recorded in the Sahīh, he said:

“When I command you to do something, do as much of it as you can.”

He has also stated that Allah has power over His servant.

Those who say that “matters pertaining to His will” do not subsist in Him rely principally on the argument that, if temporally occurring events subsisted in Him, He would never be free of them, and whatever is never free of temporally occurring events must itself have come into existence. People have disputed both of these “premises” with them, and their own followers