? How evil is their judgment!” And He says:

“Shall We then treat the Muslims like the criminals? What is the matter with you? How do you judge?”

And He says:

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

Yet according to those who deny this, there is no difference between treating these two groups alike and favouring some over others. There is no more reason to declare Him free of one than of the other. This contradicts both the revealed texts and reason.

Allah Most High has also said:

“Allah knows best where to place His message.”

In their view, the relation of a messenger’s commission to the messenger is like that of the divine address to actions: it entails no quality, either before or after that relation is established. The jurists and the majority of Muslims, however, say: Allah prohibited forbidden acts, so they became forbidden, and made obligatory acts obligatory, so they became obligatory. Thus, there are two things here: first, making something obligatory or forbidden, which is Allah’s speech and address; and second, its being obligatory or forbidden, which is a quality of the act.

Allah Most High is All-Knowing, All-Wise. He knows the benefits that the rulings entail, and He commands and forbids with knowledge of the benefits and harms for His servants in commanding and forbidding, and in what is commanded and prohibited. He has established the ruling governing the act; its quality, however, may exist independently of the divine address, or may be established through it. The wisdom embodied in revealed laws is of three kinds:

(The first: An act may entail benefit or harm even if no revealed law has addressed it, just as it is known that justice serves the welfare of the world, whereas injustice