the Lord, are all alike; thus, they regard no good deed as good and no evil deed as evil.

What they say is rationally impossible and prohibited by revealed law. The purpose here, however, is merely to explain their position. Hence, Shaykh al-Islām said concerning their tawhīd—which is the second tawhīd:

“It is the setting aside of apparent causes.”

For in their view, Allah has not created anything through a cause; rather, He produces the effect alongside the cause, not by means of it.

He said:

“And rising above the contentions of reason and attachment to evidentiary signs. This means witnessing no proof in tawhīd, no cause in reliance upon Allah, [and no means to salvation.” This is because, in their view, nothing in existence can be a cause] (1) of anything whatsoever; nothing was made for the sake of anything else, and nothing comes about through anything else.

Thus, in their view, satiety does not come through eating, nor does the knowledge that arises in the heart come through evidence. Nor does the provision and victory received by one who relies upon Allah have any cause whatsoever—neither intrinsically nor in actual fact. Nor, in their view, are acts of obedience a cause of reward, or sins a cause of punishment. There is therefore no means to salvation. Rather, every originated event proceeds solely from the one will and occurs alongside another event, joined to it by merely customary concurrence. It is not that either event depends upon the other, causes it, or is the purpose for which it occurs. Rather, because it is customary for one to be conjoined with the other, one is taken as an indication, a sign, and evidence of the other. That is, when one of two customarily conjoined things is found, the other is found together with it. The knowledge arising in the heart, however, is not produced by this evidence; this too is simply one of the customary conjunctions.