Whoever considers these matters from this perspective perceives the reality of creation and existence: he sees all things as created by Allah, governed by His will, and subject to His wisdom. Whatever Allah wills occurs, even if people do not will it; and whatever He does not will does not occur, even if people will it. None can overturn His judgment or repel His command. He sees that Allah, glorified be He, is the Lord and Sovereign of everything; to Him belong creation and command.

Everything other than Him is subject to His lordship, governed and subdued, possessing no power over its own harm or benefit, death, life, or resurrection. Rather, it is a servant utterly in need of Allah Most High in every respect, whereas Allah has no need of it, just as He has no need of any created being. This perception is itself true. Yet “one group” has fallen short of it—the Magian Qadariyyah—while “another group” has stopped at it—the polytheistic Qadariyyah.

As for the former, they are those who claim that some created things, such as human actions, fall outside Allah’s power, will, and creation. The extremists among them denied His eternal knowledge and His prior recording of events. These were the first of the Qadariyyah to arise in this community, and the Companions and the early generations of the community refuted them and disavowed them.

As for “the second group,” they are worse than the former. They comprise various groups devoted to spiritual wayfaring, aspiration, worship, Sufism, spiritual poverty, and the like. They perceive this reality and recognize that Allah is the Creator of all created things, and thus the Creator of human actions, and that He wills everything that occurs. Yet beyond this, they make no distinction between faith and disbelief, recognition and denial, truth and falsehood, the rightly guided and the misguided, the upright and the wayward, a prophet and a pretender to prophethood, or an ally of Allah and an enemy; nor