without any surplus, for if his provision fell below that, he could not survive.

As for interpreting qadara as qaddara, meaning to decree good and evil, he did not say, “If my Lord decrees punishment for me.” Rather, he said, “If my Lord decrees my fate.” Decreeing encompasses both good and evil, so it would not be sound to say, “If Allah decrees my fate,” because whatever will benefit or harm him has already been decreed and settled for him. Moreover, had he meant decreeing or constraining, he would not have thought that what he did could prevent either. There are many proofs that this distorted interpretation is false, but this is not the place to elaborate on them.

At most, this shows that he was a man who did not know all the attributes that rightfully belong to Allah, or understand in detail the implications of His being All-Powerful. Many believers may be ignorant of such matters without being disbelievers. Whoever examines the authentic hadiths will find similar reports supporting this, such as what Muslim narrated in his Sahīh from ʿĀ’ishah—may Allah be pleased with her—who said:

“Shall I not tell you about myself and the Messenger of Allah—may Allah bless him and grant him peace?”

We said, “Yes.”

She said: “When it was my night, on which the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—was staying with me, he returned, took off his cloak, removed his sandals and placed them by his feet. He spread the edge of his waist-wrapper over his bedding and lay down. He remained only long enough to think that I had fallen asleep. Then he gently picked up his cloak, moved quietly, gently opened the door and went out, then gently closed it. I pulled my dress over my head, put on my head covering, wrapped my wrap around me and followed him until he reached al-Baqīʿ. He stood there for a long time, then raised his hands