and the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) said to ‘Imrān ibn Husayn:
“Pray standing; if you cannot, then sitting; and if you cannot, then lying on your side.”
This capacity may be accompanied either by performing the act or by refraining from it. It is the only capacity recognized by the Qadariyyah, just as their opponents among the proponents of affirmation recognize only the capacity concurrent with the act. The discerning scholars among the leading authorities in jurisprudence, hadith, theology, and other fields, however, affirm both kinds, as we have explained at length elsewhere. Both scriptural and rational evidence establish the two kinds.
The second is the capacity concurrent with the act, which necessitates it. This is the capacity denied to those who do not perform the act, as in His words:
“They were unable to hear, nor did they see,”
and His words:
“They are unable to hear.”
This is the guidance frequently mentioned in the Quran, as in His words:
“Guide us to the straight path,”
and His words:
“Whoever Allah wills to guide, He opens his heart to Islam; and whoever He wills to lead astray, He makes his heart tight and constricted,”
and His words:
“Whoever Allah guides is rightly guided, but whoever He leaves astray, you will never find for him a protecting guide,”
and similar passages. This is what the Qadariyyah deny that Allah brings about; they claim instead that the servant guides himself. This hadith and others like it constitute proof against them, for He says:
“O My servants, all of you are astray except those whom I have guided, so seek My guidance and I will guide you.”
Thus He commanded His servants to ask Him for guidance, just as He commanded them to do in the Mother of