Thus, what is correct in the first position, that of the Jahmiyyah, is the point on which they agreed with the early generations and the majority: not everyone who seeks the truth, exercises independent judgment, and reasons from evidence is able to know the truth in the matter. Rather, people’s capacities in this regard vary.

The Qadariyyah say that Allah Most High has given all those accountable before Him equal capacity. He has not singled out the believers for anything that gave them an advantage over the unbelievers and enabled them to believe, nor singled out the obedient for anything that gave them an advantage over the disobedient and enabled them to obey. This is among the views of the Qadariyyah, the Muʿtazilah, and others in which they have contradicted the Quran, the Sunnah, the consensus of the early generations, and sound reason, as has been explained at length elsewhere.

For this reason, they say that everyone who reasons from evidence possesses the full capacity needed to attain knowledge of the truth. Yet it is well known that when people are uncertain of the direction of the qiblah while travelling, they are all commanded to exercise their judgment and use the available evidence to determine its direction. Some can ascertain its direction, while others cannot, and so make a mistake, supposing that a particular direction is that of the qiblah when they are mistaken. Nevertheless, such a person is obeying Allah and incurs no sin by praying in that direction, for Allah Most High does not burden any soul beyond its capacity. Their inability to ascertain its direction is like a person’s inability to face it—as with someone who is bound, someone in fear, a prisoner, or a sick person unable to turn towards it.

For this reason, the correct view concerning the second fundamental question is that of those who say that Allah punishes no one in the Hereafter except someone who has disobeyed Him by neglecting