Rather, the verse means that “the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, threw at them on the day of Badr, but it was not within his power to make what he threw reach them all; for when he threw dust at them and said, ‘May their faces be disfigured!’” he could not make it reach them all. Allah, Most High, made what he threw reach them all by His power.

The meaning is: “You did not make it reach them when you cast it, but Allah made it reach them.” Thus, the throwing affirmed of him is not the throwing denied of him, for that would entail combining two contradictions. Rather, making it reach them was denied of him, while casting and throwing it were affirmed of him. Likewise, if he shot an arrow and Allah made it reach the enemy in a manner beyond the ordinary course of events, it was Allah who made it reach its target by His power.

(The third reason)

Even if we suppose that this verse means that Allah is the Creator of His servants’ actions, this meaning is true. Abraham, Allah’s intimate friend, said:

“Our Lord, make us both submissive to You.”

It is Allah who makes a Muslim a Muslim. He, Most High, also says:

“Indeed, man was created anxious:
when evil touches him, impatient,
and when good touches him, withholding.”

It is Allah who created him anxious. Yet none of this means that Allah is the servant, that the Creator’s existence is the existence of the created being, or that Allah dwells within the servant. The assertion that Allah is the Creator of His servants’ actions is true, while the assertion that creation inheres in the created being, or that its existence is the existence of the created being, is false. These people move from affirming Allah’s oneness in His lordship to asserting indwelling and union. This is the very essence of misguidance and heresy.