[The Second Aspect: The Full Imāmī Position on Divine Decree]

The second aspect is to say:

He did not report the Imāmī position in its full form. Indeed, (1) part of the complete position of the [Imāmīs] which (2) he related—namely, the position of those among the later Shia who agreed with the Mutazilah (3) regarding their doctrines of divine oneness and justice—is that Allah did not create any of the acts of living beings: neither those of the angels, nor the prophets, nor anyone else. Rather, these events that occur (4) come about without His power or creation.

They also hold that Allah Most High has no power to guide one who is astray, nor [has He power] to (5) lead one who is guided astray. Nor does any created being need Allah to guide him. Rather, Allah has already guided them through clarification. As for attaining guidance, this person guides himself without Allah’s assistance, and that person guides himself (6) without Allah’s assistance.

They further hold that Allah’s guidance of the believers (7) and the unbelievers is the same: He has bestowed no greater religious favor upon the believers than upon the unbelievers. Rather, He guided Alī ibn Abī Tālib just as He guided Abū Jahl. This is like a father who gives one of his sons some dirhams and gives the other an equal amount, but the former spends them in obedience to Allah while the latter spends them in disobedience to Him (8),