but Allah threw.” For the believers’ killing of their enemies came about through factors beyond their power, such as the sending down of angels and the casting of terror into their enemies’ hearts. Likewise, when he threw, it was not within his power to make the dust reach all their eyes and strike terror into their hearts. Thus, the throwing that Allah placed beyond a servant’s ordinary power is the throwing that Allah denied was his doing.

Abū ʿUbayd said:
“You did not gain victory or strike the mark; rather, Allah granted you victory and supported you.”

Al-Zajjāj said:
“Your throwing a handful of dust or pebbles could not fill the eyes of that vast army. It was Allah who brought that about.”

Ibn al-Anbārī stated:
“You did not strike terror into their hearts when you cast dust at their faces.”

This was therefore beyond his power, and so was one of the signs of his prophethood.

Another view holds, instead, that the Lord, exalted is He, has power only over created things separate from Him, and that no act over which He has power subsists in Him; whereas the servant has power only over what subsists in his own being and has no power over anything separate from him. This is the position of al-Ashʿarī and those followers of the imams who agreed with him, such as Judge Abū Yaʿlā, Ibn ʿAqīl, Ibn al-Zāghūnī, and others.

Another view holds that the servant has power over both, whereas the Lord has power only over what is separate from Him. This is the position of the Muʿtazilah. Yet another view holds that each has power over what subsists in him, but not over what is separate from him. I know of no one who has said that both have power over what is separate from them but not over what is connected to them.

The fifth issue:
Power consists in one’s ability to act, and acts are of “two kinds”: