and therefore everyone who fails to know it is punished; and the position of the Jahmiyyah Jabriyyah, who say that the servant has no power over anything whatsoever. Rather, Allah punishes solely by His will: He punishes someone who has never committed any sin and grants bliss to someone who has disbelieved and transgressed. Many later scholars have agreed with them on this.

“They say that Allah may punish children and the insane, even though they have never committed any sin. Some of them assert categorically that the children of unbelievers will be punished in the Hereafter, while others regard this as possible and say, ‘I do not know what will happen.’ They also regard it as possible that the most sinful of those who face the qiblah in prayer may be forgiven without any cause whatsoever, while a righteous man may be punished for a minor sin, even though his good deeds are like mountains—without any cause whatsoever, but solely by Allah’s will. The underlying principle shared by both groups is that an agent endowed with power and choice gives preference to one of two identical alternatives over the other without any determining factor.” And so on, to the end of what he quoted—may Allah have mercy on him.

He then said:

“This makes clear the third position on this fundamental question: not everyone who exercises independent judgment and reasons from evidence is able to know the truth, and only someone who fails to do what is commanded or does what is forbidden deserves the threatened punishment. This is the position of the jurists and imams, the position known to have been held by the early generations of the Muslim community, and the position of the majority of Muslims. It combines what is correct in the two positions.”