harm that make human life untenable, that he will resist this decree and punish the wrongdoer in a way that restrains the aggression of others like him.

He is therefore told: If divine decree is a valid excuse, then let everyone do whatever they wish to you and to others. If it is not an excuse, your fundamental claim that it is an excuse collapses.

Those who hold this view and invoke the “reality of the created order” do not apply their position consistently or abide by it. Rather, they follow their own opinions and desires. As one scholar said of them: “When it comes to obedience, you are a Qadarī (advocate of free will), and when it comes to sin, you are a Jabrī (advocate of compulsion). Whichever doctrine suits your desires, you adopt it.”

Among them is a “group” who claim spiritual realization and gnosis. They allege that commands and prohibitions bind only those who perceive themselves as acting and attribute deeds to themselves. As for someone who witnesses that his actions are created, or that he is compelled to perform them, and that Allah directs him just as all other moving things are moved, commands and prohibitions, promises of reward and threats of punishment no longer apply to him.

They may also say that whoever witnesses “the divine will” is no longer subject to religious obligation. One of them claims that al-Khidr was released from religious obligation because he witnessed the divine will. Thus, these people make no distinction between ordinary people and the elect who have witnessed the reality of the created order, witnessing that Allah creates His servants’ actions and governs all existing things. They may distinguish between someone who knows this intellectually and someone who perceives it through direct witnessing. They therefore do not regard religious obligation as lifted from someone who merely believes and knows this, but only from someone who