[all other] causes upon their respective effects (1). A cause does not independently bring about its effect (2); rather, it depends upon what assists it. Likewise (3), the servant’s power does not independently bring about what lies within its power. Moreover, there may be something that prevents and impedes a cause, and the same is true of the servant’s power (4). Allah Most High creates the cause and whatever assists it, and He turns away from it whatever opposes and impedes it; the same is true of the servant’s power (5).

Accordingly, the necessary distinction (6) that this Imāmī drew between voluntary acts that occur in accordance with our intentions (7) and motives, and involuntary acts—such as the beating of the pulse and the movement of someone falling from a height when another person causes him to fall—is correct (8). It is affirmed by [all] (9) Ahl al-Sunnah and a group of their followers. This has not been disputed (10) by any of the Muslim imams who enjoy honorable repute in the ummah (11), including the Companions, those who followed them with excellence, and renowned jurists such as Mālik, Abū Hanīfa, al-Thawrī, al-Awzā'ī, al-Layth ibn Sa'd, al-Shāfi'ī, Ahmad ibn Hanbal, and Ishāq ibn Rāhawayh (12), as well as others like them who were qualified to exercise independent reasoning in religion and were the successors of the messengers (13).