For this reason, al-Awzāʿī, al-Zubaydī, and others said:

“We say jabala (‘formed by nature’), not jabara (‘compelled’), because jabl (‘natural formation’) is attested in the Sunnah, as in the authentic hadith:

“The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said to al-Ashajj of Abd al-Qays, ‘You possess two qualities that Allah loves: forbearance and deliberateness.’

“He asked, ‘Are these two qualities that I have cultivated, or two qualities upon which I was naturally formed?’

“He replied, ‘Rather, they are two qualities upon which you were naturally formed.’

“He then said, ‘Praise be to Allah, who naturally formed me with two qualities that Allah loves.’”(1)

The term jabr(2) may, however, be intended to mean simply that He does whatever He wills, even though He creates the servant’s choice. Thus Muhammad ibn Kaʿb al-Qurazī said:

“Al-Jabbār is the One who causes the servants to do what He wills.”(3)

It is also related from ʿAlī ibn Abī Tālib, may Allah be pleased with him, that he said in a supplication transmitted from him:

“O Allah, Spreader of the outspread earths and Raiser of the lofty heavens, Compeller(4) of hearts according to their innate natures(5)—the wretched and the blessed alike.”

If this is what is meant by jabr, then it is true(6). If the first meaning is intended, however, it is false. Yet when the term is used without qualification, it is understood in the first sense; it may therefore not be used without qualification.

If the questioner says, “By jabr I mean the second sense—namely, that Allah’s very act of making the servant(7) an agent possessed of power