and ‘Ād, and everyone whom Allah destroyed for their sins, would be excused. This is disbelief according to the consensus of the adherents of all religions.

(Third): This would imply making no distinction between Allah’s allies and His enemies, between believers and disbelievers, or between the people of Paradise and the people of Hell.

Allah Most High says:

“The blind and the seeing are not equal,

nor are darkness and light,

nor shade and scorching heat,

nor are the living and the dead equal.”

He Most High also says:

“Or should We treat those who believe and do righteous deeds like those who spread corruption on earth? Or should We treat those who fear Allah like the wicked?”

And He Most High says:

“Or do those who commit evil deeds think that We will make them like those who believe and do righteous deeds, alike in their life and their death? How evil is their judgment!”

For Allah had already determined the destinies of all these people and recorded their decrees before creating them. Yet they are divided into those who are blessed through faith and righteous deeds, and those who are wretched through disbelief, wickedness, and disobedience. This establishes that divine decree and predestination provide no one with an excuse for disobeying Allah.

Fourth: We believe in divine decree, but we do not invoke it as an excuse. Whoever invokes divine decree as an excuse has an invalid argument, and whoever pleads divine decree offers an unacceptable excuse. Were such an argument acceptable, it would have been accepted from Iblīs and other sinners. Were divine decree an excuse for people, no creature would be punished, either in this world or in the Hereafter. And if divine decree were an excuse, no hand would be cut off from a