As for his disbelief, this is because his position entails setting aside Allah’s religion, with which He sent His messengers and revealed His scriptures. Undoubtedly, preoccupation with divine decree and predestination has led many Sufi spiritual aspirants to neglect commands and commit forbidden acts, thereby becoming either deficient and deprived, disobedient and sinful, or disbelievers. I have witnessed many forms of this.
“Anyone to whom Allah gives no light has no light.”
These people and the Muʿtazilah, along with others like them among the Qadariyyah, stand at opposite extremes: the former attend to divine decree while disregarding Allah’s commands, whereas the latter attend to His commands while disregarding divine decree. Both groups think it impossible to give due consideration to both command and decree, while another group considers this contrary to wisdom and justice.
These three categories are the Magian Qadariyyah, the polytheistic Qadariyyah, and the Satanic Qadariyyah. We have discussed them at length elsewhere. The principal affliction besetting spiritual seekers and the general public in our time is “polytheistic Qadariyyah”: they contemplate divine decree while disregarding Allah’s commands. As one scholar said of them: “When it comes to obedience, you are a Qadarī; when it comes to disobedience, you are a Jabrī. Whichever doctrine suits your desires, you adopt it.”
What is prescribed, however, is the reverse: when it comes to obedience, one should seek Allah’s help before acting and thank Him afterwards.