“Indeed, man was created anxious,”

“distressed when evil touches him,”

“and withholding when good touches him.”

And He says:

“Man was created of haste.”

He has thus given it a constitution that necessarily entails the existence of what is created from it, out of great wisdom and all-embracing mercy. This addresses the matter from the standpoint of its ultimate purpose, while evil is not attributed to Him, glory be to Him.

As for (the second aspect), concerning the cause: this evil exists only because of the absence of the knowledge and will that set the soul aright. The soul was created with an innate disposition that calls for knowing and loving Allah, and it has been guided to knowledge and deeds that help it achieve this. All of this comes from Allah’s grace and kindness. Yet when devils among mankind and jinn made evil deeds attractive to the sinful soul (*), it inclined towards them. This involved the absence of what is beneficial, which is the fundamental factor; the existence of this absence is not attributed to Allah Most High. What is said of these devils is the same as what is said of the soul: He created them for a wise purpose.

Since the absence of what sets the soul aright is one of the two causes, and pure evil is pure nonexistence—which is not a thing—whereas Allah is the Creator of everything, evil deeds therefore come from the soul insofar as it necessarily entails voluntary activity.

When a servant acknowledges that Allah is the Creator of his actions, if he does so in affirmation that Allah creates everything, affirming His perfect words and acknowledging his own need for Him, and that unless He guides him he will be astray, thus submitting to His might and wisdom—this is the state of the believers. But if he acknowledges this to use divine decree as an excuse, this sin is greater than the first, and this is a form of following Satan.

Some have raised a question here: nothing is decreed for the believer without its being good