and doubt, as various groups maintain. This is the basis of the position of Jahm, al-Sālihī, al-Ashʿarī—according to the view widely attributed to him—and most of his followers, such as Judge Abū Bakr and those who follow him. They regard inward and outward deeds as necessary consequences of faith, rather than constituents of faith itself, and regard whatever is indispensable to faith as an inseparable consequence of affirmation. On this view, inward affirmation cannot coexist with disbelief under any circumstances.

Alternatively, it may be said that the heart can possess knowledge and affirmation of the truth, while the envy, arrogance, and similar traits within it prevent its surrender, submission, and love. This is not comparable to the relationship between will and action, for will, when coupled with ability, necessarily brings about what is intended. Knowledge and affirmation of the truth, however, even when accompanied by the ability to act, do not necessarily produce that action. There must also be a desire for the truth and love for it.

Thus, if someone says, “Complete ability, without firm resolve, necessarily brings about the intended outcome that lies within one’s power and ensures its occurrence,” he is mistaken. Will is also indispensable.

This makes clear the error of those philosophers who say that Allah’s knowledge of created things alone necessarily brings them into existence. Likewise, people judge mistaken anyone who says that merely willing possible things, without the power to bring them about, necessarily brings them into existence. They likewise judge mistaken anyone who says that power alone suffices. Rather, knowledge, power, and will are all indispensable for bringing into existence what is within one’s power and intended. Will necessarily entails conceiving of what is intended and knowing it.

As for knowledge, will, power, and similar attributes, although it may be said that they necessarily accompany one another in a living being, or that life necessarily entails these attributes, or that some attributes depend upon others, there is no doubt that not everything known is willed