Thus, if he would be dead were it not for Allah’s giving him life, and Allah has indeed given him life, then he has become alive through Allah’s giving him life. Accordingly, Allah has imposed obligations upon a living person, not a dead one.

As for the statements of the heretics’ brethren and their defenders, they claim that he said, “If only I knew who is subject to obligations!” while knowing that these obligations are real, but was perplexed as to whom to attribute their fulfilment. So he said:

“If you say, ‘A servant,’ then he is dead.”

They say that a dead person has no movement of his own; rather, his movement comes from someone else, who turns him over as he wishes. Likewise, the servant—even though alive—is with his Lord like a dead body with the person washing it: he performs no act of his own independently of Allah.

The answer to them is that this defence is invalid on several grounds.

First, there is no cause for perplexity here. The one subject to obligations is the servant, without doubt or perplexity. It is impossible that Allah should be the one obliged to fast, circumambulate the Kaaba, or cast pebbles at the pillars. Rather, He is the one who commands these acts, and the servant is the one commanded to perform them. Whoever is perplexed as to whether Allah or the servant is commanded to do these things is either unsound of mind—a madman—or corrupt in religion—a heretic and a zindīq.

Allah’s being the Creator of the servant and his actions does not preclude the servant from being the one subject to commands and prohibitions. No one has ever said that Allah is the one who bows, prostrates, circumambulates the Kaaba, casts pebbles at the pillars, or fasts the month of Ramadan. Rather, the entire Muslim community agrees that it is the servant who bows, prostrates, fasts, and worships. There is no disagreement about this between Ahl al-Sunnah and the Qadariyyah.

Second, his statement that the servant—even though alive—is with his Lord like a dead body with the person washing it is incorrect. A dead person has neither sensation nor volition concerning what takes place