and death, honour, humiliation, and every other matter—just as He, the Exalted, says: “Every day He is engaged in some affair.”⦗1⦘
A Muslim must believe in the decree in its totality and in all of its particulars. Whoever rejects any part of it is not counted among those who believe in the divine decree; and whoever disbelieves in the decree has denied a pillar of faith. This is the stance of the deviant Qadariyyah who deny predestination, and their denial falls into two categories:
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The extreme Qadariyyah: they deny that Allah had knowledge of things before they existed and deny that He wrote them in the Preserved Tablet. They claim that Allah issued commands and prohibitions without knowing who would obey and who would disobey—that the matter is wholly new, with no precedent in Allah’s knowledge or determination. This sect has now disappeared, or almost so.
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Those who concede Allah’s knowledge yet deny that human actions fall under the decree. They allege that such actions are created by people independently—that Allah neither created them nor willed them. This is the doctrine of the Muʿtazilah.
Standing opposite them is a faction that went to the other extreme in affirming the decree: they stripped the servant of all power and choice and asserted that he is compelled in everything he does; hence they are called the Jabariyyah.
Both positions are false, as proven by many evidences, including the Almighty’s words: “For whoever among you wills to take the straight path; yet you do not will unless Allah, Lord of all worlds, wills.”⦗2⦘ The phrase “for whoever among you wills to take the straight path” refutes the Jabariyyah, for Allah affirms a will for His servants, whereas they claim the servants are coerced and possess no will. Conversely, the phrase “yet you do not will unless Allah, Lord of all worlds, wills” refutes the Qadariyyah, who maintain that the servant’s will generates actions independently of Allah’s will. This is untenable, for Allah has made the servant’s will dependent on—and linked to—His own, and this is