Allah brings these matters about. This shows that none of this prevents the servant from performing the righteous deeds through which Allah grants him blessedness, or from having the power and will to do so, even though Allah makes all of this possible for him—and even if people dispute whether to call this compulsion. But can the servant perform an action other than the one he actually performs (*), which was already encompassed by Allah’s knowledge and written record?”
This is something people have disputed, just as they have disputed whether ability must accompany the act or must precede it. Among the proponents of affirmation, those who say that ability exists only alongside the act maintain that the servant cannot do anything other than what he actually does, which was already encompassed by Allah’s knowledge and written record.
Those who say that ability may precede the act and may exist without it maintain that the servant can do what he has not done, including what Allah knew and recorded that he would not do.
The decisive answer is that “ability” occurs in Allah’s Book in two senses. The first is the ability required for an act, upon which commands and prohibitions depend, as in His words, Most High:
“Pilgrimage to the House is a duty owed to Allah by people who are able to make their way to it.”
And His words:
“So fear Allah as much as you are able.”
And His words:
“If any of you cannot afford to marry free believing women”—to the end of the verse.
“Whoever cannot find one must fast for two consecutive months before the two touch one another; and whoever is unable must feed sixty needy people.”
And His words:
“And those who are able to fast must pay a ransom by feeding a needy person.”
And the Prophet’s words, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, to ‘Imrān ibn al-Azāriqah:
“Pray standing; if you cannot, then sitting; and if you cannot, then lying on your side.”
For if the ability mentioned in these texts existed only alongside the act, it would follow that Hajj would be obligatory only for someone who had performed it, and fasting for two months would be obligatory only for someone who