This is because one only says, “Do such and such if you wish,” to someone who might do it under compulsion, doing what he does not want in order to avoid the harm of being compelled. But no one can compel Allah Most High, so He does only what He wills. Thus His words:

“Indeed, Allah does whatever He wills,”

and:

“He forgives whom He wills and punishes whom He wills,”

and similar statements affirm His power to do whatever He wills. This refutes the Qadarī deniers, who say that He has not willed everything that occurs, but wills only obedience. Yet, although He willed obedience, it did not occur on the part of those who disobeyed Him. According to them, He has no power to make a servant obedient or disobedient.

These verses, which the determinists cite as evidence, demonstrate the falsity of the deniers’ doctrine. Likewise, the verses cited by the deniers—which establish that He is a just Judge, that He does not wrong anyone even by an atom’s weight, that He did not create creation in vain, and other such truths—demonstrate the falsity of the determinists’ position. Neither set of verses, however, establishes the correctness of either group’s position. Rather, the evidence cited by each group demonstrates the falsity of the other’s doctrine, while both positions are false.

This is what the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, prohibited in the hadith recorded in the Musnad and elsewhere, part of which is also found in Sahīh Muslim. It is reported from ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAmr that the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him:

“Came out to his Companions while they were disputing about divine decree. One was saying, ‘Has Allah not said such and such?’ and another was saying, ‘Has Allah not said such and such?’ His face was as though pomegranate seeds had burst upon it, and he said, ‘Is this what you were commanded to do? Or is this what you were called to—to set parts of Allah’s Book against others?’”

This is why Ahmad said, in one of his debates with someone who was setting the verses