whereupon another man replied to him, “Allah did compel His servants,” intending thereby to affirm divine decree. They asked Ahmad ibn Hanbal about this, and he rebuked them both—the one who said, “He compelled,” and the one who said, “He did not compel”—until he repented. He instructed them to say:

“Allah leaves astray whom He wills and guides whom He wills.”

He also related from ‘Abd al-Rahmān ibn Mahdī, who said: “Sufyān al-Thawrī rejected the expression ‘He compelled’ and said, ‘Allah endowed His servants with their innate natures.’”

Al-Marwadhī said that he meant the Prophet’s words—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—to al-Ashajj of ‘Abd al-Qays:

“You have two qualities that Allah loves: forbearance and deliberation.”

He asked, “Are these two qualities that I have acquired, or two qualities that are innate to me?”

He replied, “Rather, they are two qualities innate to you.”

He said, “Praise be to Allah, who endowed me with two innate qualities that He loves.”

He also related from Abū Ishāq al-Fazārī, who said: “Al-Awzā‘ī said to me, ‘Two men came to me and asked me about divine decree. I wished to bring them to you so that you could hear what they have to say and answer them.’

“I replied, ‘May Allah have mercy on you; you are better qualified to answer.’

“Then al-Awzā‘ī came to me with the two men and said, ‘Speak.’

“They said, ‘Some adherents of the Qadariyyah came to us and disputed with us about divine decree. We disputed with them until our argument reached the point where we said: “Allah compelled us to do what He forbade us, prevented us from doing what He commanded us, and provided us with what He prohibited to us.”’

“I said, ‘You two! Those people who came to you with such claims have introduced an innovation and brought something new into the religion. Yet I see that, in departing from their innovation, you have gone to something like that to which they went.’

“Al-Awzā‘ī said, ‘You are right and have spoken well, Abū Ishāq.’”

He also related from Baqiyyah ibn al-Walīd, who said: “I asked al-Zubaydī and al-Awzā‘ī about ‘compulsion’