This is clarified by the fact that when Allah Most High creates blindness, illness, hunger, thirst, pain, weariness, and the like in a person, it is the servant who is ill, hungry, thirsty, and in pain. The harm, suffering, and unpleasantness inherent in these created things affect him; none of this affects Allah Most High. Likewise, the lying, wrongdoing, unbelief, and similar things He creates in him are harmful, repugnant, and hurtful. This is what it means to call them evil and reprehensible: they distress and harm the person who commits them. They may also distress and harm others, just as his illness, foul smell, and the like may distress and harm others.

This is further clarified by the fact that the Qadariyyah concede that Allah may create unbelief and wickedness in the servant as recompense, as in His words, Most High:

“We turn their hearts and eyes away, just as they did not believe in it the first time.”

And His words:

“In their hearts is a disease, so Allah has increased their disease.”

And His words:

“When they deviated, Allah caused their hearts to deviate.”

Now, it is well known that these created things are acts performed and acquired by the servant, for which he is recompensed and deserves blame and punishment, while they are created by Allah Most High. Thus, according to those who affirm divine decree, what He creates of the servants’ deeds in the first instance is, in this respect, no different from what He creates as recompense, even though the two differ in another respect. The Qadariyyah cannot distinguish between them on the grounds that one, but not the other, is Allah’s act, and that one, but not the other, is the servant’s act. Rather, they say that creation as recompense is fitting for Allah Most High because it is recompense for the servant, whereas initial creation is not fitting for Him because it is an initial action toward the servant