and revelation has forbidden it. Allah Most High says:

‘Allah does not burden any soul with more than it can bear.’

[Surah al-Baqarah: 286].”

The response to this (1) may be given from several angles. The first is that those who affirm divine decree hold two positions concerning the servant’s capacity. According to the first, his capacity exists only together with the act. On this view, a disbeliever whom Allah eternally knew would not believe can never have the capacity to believe, and the objection he raised (2) does apply to those who hold this position.

The second position is that capacity is of two kinds. The capacity required as a condition of being charged with an obligation exists before and independently of the act, and it may persist (3) until the act occurs. The capacity that necessarily entails the act, however, must exist when the act occurs.

The basis of their position is that Allah has singled out the believers with a blessing by which they are guided (4), one that He did not grant to the disbeliever; and that the servant must possess capacity when performing the act—contrary to those who claim that he possesses capacity only before the act and that the blessing bestowed upon the disbeliever and the believer is the same. Since he must possess capacity (5) while performing the act, if he was capable before the act and that capacity persisted until the act occurred, this would not invalidate (6) the basis of their position. However, the mere capacity for either of two opposites (7) is shared by the believer and the disbeliever. The believer must therefore possess something (8) with which Allah singles him out among the causes by which he becomes