It is replied:

The term jabr (compulsion) occurs in neither the Book nor the Sunnah, whether by way of negation or affirmation. Wording is inviolable only when authentically established from the infallible Messenger; such is the wording of the revealed texts, whose meanings we are duty-bound to follow. As for newly introduced terms, jabr is like jiha (direction), hayyiz (spatial location), and similar expressions.

Accordingly, the position explicitly reported from the leading imams of Islam—including al-Awzā'ī, al-Thawrī, Abd al-Rahmān ibn Mahdī, Ahmad ibn Hanbal, and others—is that this term should neither be affirmed nor denied without qualification. Thus, one should not say categorically, “He compelled,” nor say, “He did not compel,” for it is an ambiguous term.

Some scholars of the early generations(1), such as al-Zubaydī, an associate of al-Zuhrī, negated it unconditionally. This was based on its commonly recognized linguistic meaning, for the terms “compulsion” and “to compel” are ordinarily applied when something is done without the will of the person compelled—indeed, against that person’s wishes—as when a father compels his daughter to marry.

This meaning is inapplicable to Allah Most High. He, Glorified is He, does not create the servant’s voluntary act without the servant’s own choice; rather, He is the One who causes the servant to will and choose. No one is capable of this except Allah.

Hence, some of the early generations said: “Allah is too great and too exalted(2) to compel. It is only one who cannot(3) bring it about that another chooses freely who compels him. Allah Most High brings it about that the servant chooses freely and therefore has no need to compel him.”