We reply:

The compulsion we deny is the first kind, as we have explained. As for affirming the second kind, those who adhere to the Sunnah and transmitted reports, and those endowed with understanding and insight, have no doubt about it. Nevertheless, it is not called “compulsion,” lest it be confused with the first kind and immediately bring that meaning to mind. It may sometimes be called compulsion when there is no risk of confusion and the intended meaning is understood. In his well-known supplication invoking blessings upon the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, ʿAlī, may Allah be pleased with him, said:

“O Allah, Spreader of the expanses and Creator of the lofty heavens, Compeller of hearts according to their innate dispositions, whether to wretchedness or bliss.”

He thus explained that Allah, glorified is He, compels hearts according to the disposition upon which He created them, whether wretchedness or bliss. This second disposition is not the original disposition. Both dispositions have been used to explain the Prophet’s saying, may Allah bless him and grant him peace:

“Every child is born upon the natural disposition.”

Interpreting it in terms of the first disposition is straightforward. Muhammad ibn Kaʿb al-Qurazī—one of the most distinguished and eminent Successors in Medina, sometimes ranked above most of them—expressed this when explaining His name “the Compeller.” He said: “He compelled His servants to what He willed.” This has also been reported from others.

The testimony of the Quran and hadith, together with what those endowed with insight and rigorous reasoning perceive, makes this utterly clear: Allah, glorified and exalted is He, turns His servants’ hearts and directs them, inspires them with their wickedness and their piety, and sends down the inexorable decree from the Almighty, the All-Wise, upon the hearts of all people in less than the blink of an eye, so that their limbs move in accordance with what has been decreed for them and against them. This is clear to everyone except those whose sight and hearts Allah has blinded.

If you say:

“On this understanding, having abandoned the conception of compulsion that they denied and refuted, and holding firmly to what they stated and explained, I ask you: how are reward and punishment based