if He wills, He does it, and if He wills, He does not do it.”

One who affirms wisdom says: “There is wisdom in His not bringing this about, just as there is wisdom in everything else He has not brought about. Bringing it about may cause someone other than the person commanded a harm greater than the benefit accruing to that person(1). The commanded person’s doing it may also result in the loss of a benefit greater than the benefit he gains. The wise one gives precedence to the greater(2) of two benefits and averts the greater of two harms.”

The servants are not required to know the details of Allah’s wisdom. Rather, general knowledge and complete faith suffice for them(3).

Whoever regards divine will as a single category—even though [his position](4) is the weaker one—holds a better view than the deniers of divine decree, who regard(5) will, volition, and love as one and the same and claim that things occur which He does not will(6) [and that He wills things which do not occur](7).

This is because he says: “Foolishness can be attributed only to one to whom purposes may be attributed. Purposes(8) necessarily imply need for something other than oneself and deficiency(9) in their absence, and this is impossible with respect to Allah. In Allah’s case, they would entail an infinite regress and the subsistence of temporal events in Him, something this opponent deems impossible.”

Thus, if the Mutazilites—and the Shia who agree with them—concede these principles,