He would not have punished them for their sins. It is also evidence against those who deny divine decree, for He, glory be to Him, states that good comes from Allah and that evil comes from the servant himself. The Qadariyyah agree that the servant brings his disobedience into being just as he brings his obedience into being. In their view, Allah brings neither into being; rather, He commands obedience and forbids disobedience.
According to them, Allah has bestowed no religious blessing upon His believing servants without bestowing its like upon the disbelievers. Thus, in their view, ʿAlī ibn Abī Tālib, may Allah be pleased with him, and Abū Lahab received equal religious blessings from Allah: the Messenger was sent to each, each was given the ability to act, and any impediment had been removed for each. Yet the former came to faith by himself, without Allah singling him out for a blessing through which he believed, while the latter disbelieved by himself, without Allah favoring that believer over him or granting the believer a special blessing on account of which he believed.
In their view, Allah made faith as beloved to disbelievers such as Abū Lahab and his like as He did to believers such as ʿAlī, may Allah be pleased with him, and his like. He adorned it in the hearts of both groups and equally made disbelief, wickedness, and disobedience hateful to both. Yet the believers hated what Allah had made hateful to them without receiving any blessing peculiar to them, while the disbelievers did not hate what Allah had made hateful to them.
Anyone who imagines that they hold, or reports them as holding, that obedience comes from Allah while disobedience comes from the servant is ignorant of their doctrine. None of the scholars of the Qadariyyah has said this, nor could he do so, for their fundamental position is that the servant’s performance of obedience is like his performance of disobedience: he performs both through a capacity he possesses, without Allah singling him out by creating in him a will or placing in him a power specific to either one. Thus, if they invoke this verse as evidence for their doctrine, they would be ignorant of their own doctrine, and the verse would be evidence against them