and the servant’s bringing them about (1) means that this act [which subsists in him] (2) came from him through the capacity and will that Allah created in him.”

Each of these two instances of bringing about necessarily entails the other, but the respect in which each is attributed differs. [What the Lord brings about is distinct from Him and subsists in the creature, whereas the servant’s act, which he brings about, subsists in him] (3). Thus, the servant does not perform the act through his will and capacity unless Allah makes him an agent in this manner, thereby bringing into being (4) his capacity, his will, and the act that occurs through them. When Allah makes him an agent, that act must necessarily (5) exist.

The Lord’s creation of the servant’s act entails the existence of the act, while the servant’s becoming its agent after not having been so entails that the Lord is its Creator. Indeed, all originated events, together with their causes, fall under this same principle (6).

[If it is said, “This is the view of those who say that it is both an act of the Lord and an act of the servant,”

it is replied: Whoever says that it is an act of both in the sense of partnership is mistaken. As for one who says that the Lord’s act is what is distinct from Him, and that it is an act of both—as Abū Ishāq al-Isfarāyīnī said—his words must be explained in some intelligible manner.

According to the position of the majority of Ahl al-Sunna, however, who say that these acts are brought about by the Lord