a cause of desire or fear in him. When he coerces another person, he subjects him to punishment or threats that cause him apprehension and fear. The person then does what he would not choose to do and is not pleased to do. His aim is to ward off harm from himself. Thus, he wills the act, but his purpose is to avert harm, not the act itself. Accordingly, he may be described as choosing in one respect and not choosing in another, and as willing in one respect and not willing in another. In Arabic usage, however, he is not described as acting by choice, but as being coerced. This is also the usage of the jurists.

As is established in the two Sahīh collections, the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said:

“When any of you supplicates, he should not say, ‘O Allah, forgive me if You will; O Allah, have mercy on me if You will.’ Rather, let him be firm in his request, for no one can compel Allah.”

The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, thus explained that someone who acts by his own will is not coerced, whereas someone who is coerced acts by the will of another—the person coercing him. Although he intends what he does, and is not like someone who is merely acted upon and has no power or will whatsoever in the act, his primary purpose is to ward off the harm, not to perform the act itself. There are therefore three categories:

(The first is someone who is acted upon without having any ability to resist, such as a person who is carried against his will and taken into a place, or whose body is used to strike someone else, or a woman who is laid down and raped against her will, without any ability to resist. Such a person performs no voluntary act and has neither power nor will in the matter. An act of this kind is subject to neither command nor prohibition and incurs no punishment, by the agreement of all rational people. A person is punished only when able to resist but failing to do so, for if he does not