Surah al-Kahf

Section

The hadith of ‘Alī—may Allah be pleased with him—recorded in the two Sahīh collections relates that the Messenger of Allah—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—came to him and Fātimah at night while they were asleep and said, “Will you not both pray?”

‘Alī replied, “O Messenger of Allah, our souls are only in Allah’s hand. If He wills, He retains them; if He wills, He releases them.”

The Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—turned away, striking his thigh with his hand and repeatedly saying:

“But man is, above all else, most prone to dispute.”

This hadith explicitly condemns those who invoke divine decree to oppose a command. His statement, “Our souls are only in Allah’s hand,” and the words that follow invoke divine decree to justify not complying with the command. The statement is true in itself, but it cannot legitimately be used to oppose the command. Rather, using it to oppose the command is a form of the blameworthy disputation concerning which Allah said:

“But man is, above all else, most prone to dispute.”

These people constitute one category of the Qadariyya, and I have [classified them] elsewhere. Thus, false disputation . . . (1).