Otherwise, all creatures, in every word,
Every glance of an eye or movement of a hair,
Every stroke of a hand or step of a foot,
Every motion—indeed, every moment of stillness—
Are subject to Allah’s decrees and His judgment,
Just as you are, according to the argument you have offered.

Suppose you absolve everyone who commits
Ruinous deeds, carrying this analogy through:

Can all blame possibly be lifted
From everyone for every vile deed?

Can punishment of transgressors be abandoned,
And people cease to uphold justice among their subjects,

So that no life or property is compensated with its equivalent,
And no aggressor punished in proportion to his crime?

Would people’s reason or natural disposition accept
The scoundrel’s plea: “What could I do?”

Sufficient to refute you is what afflicts the body of a human being—
A child or an insane person—and every beast:

Pain decreed, with no means of averting it;
And in whatever Allah wills lies perfect wisdom.

If He has wisdom in this, what then should be thought
Of His creating the deed and then imposing punishment?

How could it be otherwise, when some such suffering arises
As a natural consequence of the act—the servant’s own act?

Like someone who eats poison, whose eating causes death:
All of this is decreed by the Lord of creation.