a cause you mean that the ruling applies when it exists, then there is no additional ruling here. If you mean something else, that is denied.”

The reply to them is that causes possess attributes appropriate to the ruling, on account of which the ruling was prescribed; it was also prescribed because it leads to a wise purpose. As the Exalted says:

“Indeed, prayer restrains one from shameful and evil deeds, and the remembrance of Allah is greater.”

And the Exalted says:

“Satan only seeks to sow enmity and hatred among you through intoxicants and gambling”—to the end of the verse.

Likewise, those who say that the servant’s ability has no effect on his actions are these very followers of Jahm who deny causes. By contrast, the position of the early generations, their followers, the leading scholars of Ahl al-Sunnah, and the majority of Muslims who affirm divine decree and oppose the Muʿtazilah is to affirm causes. They affirm that the servant’s ability accompanying his action has an effect, just as all other causes have effects on what they produce. Allah Most High created both causes and their effects.

Causes do not produce their effects independently. Rather, they require other causes to assist them, and they also have opposing factors that impede them. An effect does not come about until Allah creates all its causes and wards off the opposing factors that counteract it. He, glorified be He, creates all of this by His will and power, just as He creates all other created things.

The servant’s ability is thus one cause among others. His action does not come about through that ability alone; a firm resolve must accompany it. If by ability one means the strength inherent in a person, then impediments must also be removed, such as the removal of