the Arabs and others. He also knows that the doctrine of these Qadariyyah—the determinist Jahmiyyah, who are absorbed in contemplating the oneness of lordship—is essentially of the same kind as the claim of the polytheists who said:

“Had Allah willed, neither we nor our fathers would have associated partners with Him, nor would we have forbidden anything.”

Allah Most High says:

“Likewise, those before them denied the truth until they tasted Our punishment. Say, ‘Do you have any knowledge that you can produce for us? You follow nothing but conjecture, and you do nothing but guess.’”

“Say, ‘To Allah belongs the conclusive argument. Had He willed, He would have guided you all.’”

These polytheists rejected the commands and prohibitions with which the messengers were sent, and rejected the oneness of Allah that consists in worshipping Him alone, without any partner. Yet they acknowledged His oneness in lordship and that Allah is the Creator of everything. Thus, in their view, no distinction remained on Allah’s part between what is commanded and what is forbidden.

They therefore said:

“Had Allah willed, neither we nor our fathers would have associated partners with Him, nor would we have forbidden anything.”

This is true: had Allah willed that this should not happen, it would not have happened. But how does this help them? All it establishes is that this association of partners with Allah and this prohibition occurred by divine decree. It does not follow that something decreed is therefore loved by Allah and pleasing to Him. They have no knowledge that Allah commanded it, loved it, or was pleased with it. Rather, they rely on nothing but conjecture and guesswork. If they invoke divine decree as an argument, divine decree is universal, not peculiar to their situation.

If they say, “We love this and resent that, so we distinguish according to our natural inclinations, since there is no distinction on the part of the True One,” the reply is: “You have no knowledge that there is no distinction on the part of Allah Most High.” Those Jahmiyyah who affirm the revealed law say that the established distinction is that the oneness of Allah