These analogies, however, are not comparable to Allah’s action, for there is nothing like unto Allah—neither in His essence, His attributes, nor His actions. Glorified is He: He creates choice in the one who chooses, pleasure in the one who is pleased, and love in the one who loves. None but Allah has power to do this.

Accordingly, imams such as al-Thawrī, al-Awzāʿī, al-Zubaydī, Ahmad ibn Hanbal, and others repudiated those who said, “Allah compelled His servants.” They said, “Only one who lacks power resorts to compulsion, just as a father compels his daughter to act contrary to her wishes.”

Allah is the Creator of both the will and what is willed. Thus, as stated in the sunnah, one says that He “formed them with their natural disposition”; one does not say that He “compelled them,” as the Prophet—peace and blessings be upon him—stated [in an authentic hadith](1). (2). (3).

Another point clarifying this is that the aspect of Allah’s creating and decreeing is distinct from that of His commanding and legislating. The purpose of His command and legislation is to explain what will benefit His servants if they do it and what will harm them, just as a physician instructs a patient to do what will benefit him. Thus, through His messengers, Allah informed people of the ultimate fate of the blessed and the wretched; He commanded what leads to blessedness and prohibited what leads to wretchedness.