Most High is not described by what He has created, but only by what subsists in Him. Thus, their position does not entail that the Lord is unjust. As for the others, when they say that He is described by created things distinct from Him, and is called just and Creator because of the existence of something distinct from Him that He created, they are held to the implication that He is unjust because He creates injustice distinct from Himself. For, among things distinct from Him, they do not distinguish between what is an attribute and act of another and what is not: according to them, all stand in the same relation to His power, will, and creation.

These people also affirmed without qualification that obligations beyond one’s ability may be imposed. Yet none of the early generations or the imams affirmed this without qualification, just as none of them affirmed compulsion without qualification. To say without qualification that He compels His servants is like saying without qualification that He imposes on them obligations beyond their ability. The latter denies their ability to do what they have been commanded, while the former denies that they are agents endowed with ability.

For this reason, the more moderate among them—such as Judge Abū Bakr ibn al-Bāqillānī and most of Abū al-Hasan’s followers, as well as the majority of the followers of Mālik, al-Shāfiʿī, and Ahmad ibn Hanbal, including Judge Abū Yaʿlā and others like him—make distinctions concerning the imposition of obligations beyond one’s ability, just as distinctions concerning compulsion were discussed earlier.

They say: imposing an obligation that is beyond the servant’s ability because he is incapable of it is not permissible. As for something said to be beyond his ability because he is occupied with its opposite, imposing it is permissible. This is because a person cannot be standing and sitting at the same time. While standing, he cannot also sit; yet he may be commanded to stand while sitting.