as the Quran indicates in such(1) passages as the statement of the Most High:

“And We chose them and guided them to a straight path.”

[Surah al-Anām: 87]

And His statement:

“And We gave them both the clear Scripture and guided them both to the straight path.”

[Surah al-Sāffāt: 117, 118]

This also includes our saying(2) in prayer:

“Guide us to the straight path—the path of those upon whom You have bestowed Your favor, not those who have incurred wrath, nor those who have gone astray.”

[Surah al-Fātiha: 6, 7]

For the guidance shared by all is already present and does not need to be requested(3). What is requested is the guidance that He grants exclusively to those who are rightly guided. Whoever interprets this as meaning an increase in guidance and steadfastness, and says(4), “That was a recompense,” contradicts himself.

For it may be said: If this requested guidance does not arise(5) through the servant’s choice, he will not be rewarded for it, since he is rewarded only for what he does by his own choice (6 and if it does arise by his own choice 6)(6). It is thus established that Allah brings into being the act that the servant chooses. This is the position of Ahl al-Sunnah.

The same applies to what Allah states in the Quran concerning His causing people to stray, His guiding them, and the like. They may interpret this as a recompense for what had gone before. Yet most of their interpretations are such that it is necessarily known that Allah and His Messenger did not intend those meanings in their words. Moreover, this recompense concerns something for which its doer is rewarded. If they allow that Allah may reward the servant for something He graciously bestows upon him(7)