or prohibition without any cause or wisdom whatsoever, simply singling out one of two like cases rather than the other? Jahm ibn Safwān and those among the Jabriyyah (determinists) who agreed with him affirmed this, as did many speculative theologians who affirm divine decree.

The early generations, however, along with the leading scholars of jurisprudence, hadith, and Sufism, and most schools of speculative theology—both those who affirm divine decree, such as the Karrāmiyyah and others, and those who deny it, such as the Mu‘tazilah and others—do not accept this principle. Rather, they say that He—glory be to Him—makes particular distinctions in His creation and His commands for reasons and wisdom that He has in doing so. This principle has been discussed at length elsewhere.

Likewise, some say: “He multiplies its reciter’s reward to equal the unmultiplied reward given to someone who recites a third of the Quran.” This claim is supported neither by the hadith nor by reason, and there is no fitting rationale or wisdom in it. The text states that reciting it is equivalent to a third of the Quran, and that whoever recites it is as though he had recited a third of the Quran. If the reward is multiplied in one case, it is multiplied in the other; if it is not multiplied in one, neither is it multiplied in the other. To single out one of them for multiplication is therefore arbitrary.

Furthermore, assigning a multiplied reward equivalent to that of a third of the Quran can only be because of the surah’s distinctive merit. Its merit, then, accounts for this valuation, without any need to diminish the reward of the rest of the Quran. Moreover, this is sheer arbitrariness: no evidence supports it, no cause warrants it, and there is no wisdom in it.

People often err because of their deficient knowledge of, and faith in, the words of Allah and His Messenger, their worth, and what they contain