—who, in his parlance and in common parlance, are [everyone] (1) other than the Shia—is a manifest lie (2) on his part.

The second respect is that none of the rest of Ahl al-Sunnah who affirm divine decree says that Allah [Most High] (3) is unjust, nor does any of them say that [He] (4) is unwise. Nor does any of them say that He may fail to do what is obligatory or do what is evil.

No Muslim speaks in the manner of this unqualified statement of his. Anyone who made such a statement would be (5) an unbeliever whose blood could lawfully be shed, by the consensus of the Muslims.

Rather, this is the question of divine decree, concerning which the disagreement among the Muslims is well known. As for those who deny divine decree—such as the Mutazilah and their like—their position is the one adopted by the later Imamis.

[As for] those (6) who affirm divine decree—the majority of the Muslim community and its leading authorities, such as the Companions, those who followed them faithfully, the Prophet’s Household, and others—they differed over how Allah’s justice and wisdom should be understood, the nature of the injustice from which He must be declared free, whether His acts and rulings have underlying reasons, and similar matters.

One group said: Injustice is impossible for Him and is not within His power, for it is intrinsically impossible, like combining two contradictories (7). Since everything possible is within His power, it cannot be injustice. Those who hold this view—