true of the disbelievers, the wicked, and the wrongdoers. He does not approve of disbelief for His servants, nor does He love anyone who is arrogant and boastful. Nevertheless, whatever Allah wills happens, and whatever He does not will does not happen.

The best defence offered by those who affirm divine decree and hold that love means will is that He loves these things just as He wills them in a universal, decretive sense; likewise, He loves them and is pleased with them in that sense. This is, however, open to objections discussed elsewhere.

If it is said, “This division of will is unknown in our case. Rather, when one of us commands something, he either wills it or does not will it. A distinction between will and love, however, is recognizable in our case,” the answer is: “This is indeed as it must be, for there is nothing like Allah Most High. His commanding us is not like one of us commanding his slave and servants.”

When one of us commands his slave, he does so either because he needs the slave or the action commanded, or because he needs only to issue the command. The first is exemplified by a ruler commanding his troops to do what safeguards his dominion and enables them to benefit him. For guiding people and directing them through commands and prohibitions is a form of kindness towards them, yet a benefactor among human beings himself stands in need of the good he does. Allah Most High says:

“If you do good, you do good for yourselves; and if you do evil, it is against yourselves.”

And He says:

“Whoever does good, it is for his own benefit; and whoever does evil, it is to his own detriment.”

Allah Most High has not commanded His servants because He needs their service, nor does He need to command them. Rather, He has commanded them only out of kindness and as a blessing He has bestowed