the approach of those who affirm divine will and consign all judgment to Him, injustice by Him is intrinsically impossible, for injustice consists in disposing of another’s property or overstepping the limits set for one, and both are impossible with respect to Allah Most High. In any event (1), the Lord Most High must not be likened to His creation (2)—not in His essence, His attributes, or His actions. Rather, His is the highest perfection: whatever perfection is affirmed of others, He is more entitled to it; and whatever imperfection others are deemed above, He is more entitled to be declared above it. Whatever is permissible for one who is capable and self-sufficient is all the more permissible for Him. An act is not necessarily wrong for Him simply because it would be wrong for one who could be harmed by it (3), for the servants can never attain to harming Him, nor can they attain to benefiting Him.

The Fourth Argument:

It may be said: There is no disagreement among the Muslims that Allah is just and not unjust (4). However, not everything that constitutes injustice when done by a servant constitutes injustice when done by the Lord, nor is everything that is wrong when done by a servant wrong when done by the Lord. Indeed, there is nothing like Allah—not in His essence, His attributes, or His actions.

The point (5) is that, if the matter were as some of the Qadariyyah claim, it would follow that certain things Allah has done must be deemed wrong. If one servant commanded another to do something from which the commander derived no benefit, threatened him with punishment for failing to do it, and knew that the one commanded would not do it (6) but would disobey him and thus deserve (7) punishment, this (8) would be futile and wrong on his part, since it would benefit neither the commander nor the one commanded.