and the consensus of the early generations of the Muslim community. The same applies to those who opposed them by denying the Lord’s wisdom established in His creation and His commands, the mercy He has prescribed for Himself, the injustice He has forbidden Himself, and the causes He has established for created things and prescribed ordinances. These causes are attested by revelation, reason, and sensory experience, and affirmed by the early generations of the Muslim community and the leading scholars of the religion. Thus, Allah Most High says:
“and the water Allah sends down from the sky, giving life thereby to the earth after its death.”
And He says:
“Then We send down water thereby, and with it bring forth every kind of fruit.”
There are other similar passages. These views originated with al-Jahm ibn Safwān, the leader of the extreme determinists. He denied the Lord’s mercy and would go out to people afflicted with leprosy and say, “Does the Most Merciful of the merciful do such a thing?” He meant that there is nothing but a will by which He gives preference to one of two equal possibilities without any reason for preferring it—neither wisdom nor mercy.
This is why those who agreed with his position while professing adherence to the way of Ahl al-Sunnah wa-l-Jamā‘ah fall into contradiction. When they discuss the revealed law, they need to follow the approach of the leading scholars of the religion in affirming the merits of the Sharī‘ah: its commands to pursue what serves people’s welfare and benefits them, its prohibitions against what corrupts their affairs and harms them, and the fact that the Messenger sent with it was sent as a mercy. As Allah Most High says:
“We have sent you only as a mercy to all the worlds.”
Allah Most High has described him in His words:
“My mercy encompasses all things. I shall ordain it for those who fear Me and give zakah, and those who believe in Our signs.”
“Those who follow the Messenger, the unlettered Prophet, whom they find described in the Torah and the Gospel they possess, who commands them to do what is right and forbids them