this bringing into being is possible through the will of Allah Most High. Hence, the position of the adherents of the pure Sunnah is that the servant truly performs his action, just as Abū al-Husayn maintained was self-evident. They do not say that he does not truly act, or that he does not act at all, as those inclined toward compulsion say, such as the school of Abū Abd Allāh al-Rāzī.

At the same time, they maintain that Allah is the Creator of both this agent and his action, that He is the One who made him truly act, and that He creates the actions of His servants. In this they agree with those who affirm this among the Asharīs—the school of al-Rāzī—and others, rather than with the Qadariyyah, such as Abū al-Husayn and his followers, who say that Allah did not create the actions of His servants.

For this reason, the imams, such as Imam Ahmad and earlier imams such as al-Awzāī and others, explicitly rejected unqualified statements either affirming or denying compulsion. Thus, one should neither say, “Allah compelled His servants,” nor say, “He did not compel them.” The term “compulsion” has multiple meanings and is ambiguous. Saying “He compelled them” suggests that Allah compels them to do good and evil without their choosing; saying “He did not compel them” suggests that they do whatever they wish without His choosing. Both are erroneous. We have discussed this at length elsewhere.

The point here is that these two groups believed divine decree and revealed law to be incompatible, just as the Magians and polytheists believed. They therefore said: “If He creates the action, it is impossible