follow that being called to account means being punished. Hence He said:

“Then He forgives whom He wills and punishes whom He wills.”

This does not imply that He forgives and punishes without cause or order, nor that He forgives everything or punishes for everything, given what is known—that He does not punish the believers, that He does not forgive the association of partners with Him except upon repentance, and other such matters.

The fundamental principle is to distinguish between what is compatible with the foundation of faith and what contradicts it, and also between an act that a person was capable of doing but did not do, and one left undone only because of inability. These two distinctions are decisive in resolving these confusing issues.

This detailed explanation makes clear that the dispute over this “question” arose only because they envisaged a firm resolve never accompanied by any action. This can occur only when the action accompanies the resolve. If inability accompanies the will, the intended outcome cannot occur; yet such a will is not resolute, for a resolute will to do what one is incapable of doing is itself impossible. Thus, a resolute will is accompanied by whatever preliminary steps and attendant actions the person is capable of, even if the act itself does not occur.

A person finds within himself that, when he is capable of an action, his pursuit of it, his hope of attaining it, and his will to do it grow stronger; when he is incapable of it, that hope weakens. Yet he is not equally incapable of what he says and what he does, nor of what appears on his face