and the earlier Hanbalīs, Mālikīs, and Shāfiīs, as [Abū Bakr] (1) Abd al-Azīz stated in al-Muqni. This is also one of al-Asharī’s two positions. Abū al-Faraj ibn al-Jawzī adopted it and preferred it to the position of those who said, “He does not love corruption for the believer,” or, “He does not love it as religion.”

Abū al-Maālī stated that this was the position of the Salaf and that the first of the affirmationists to regard the two (2) as identical was Abū al-Hasan. Those among the later Mālikīs, Shāfiīs, and Hanbalīs who held this position—such as Abū al-Maālī, Judge Abū Yalā, and others—were following al-Asharī in this regard.

This distinction makes it clear that the divine will is of two kinds: a will to create and a will concerning what He has commanded. [As for what He has commanded] (3), it is willed by a legislative, religious will, [which entails] (4) that He loves what He has commanded and is pleased with it.

This is what we mean when we say, “He wills (5) something from His servant.” He wills it for him, just as a sincere counselor who gives a command wants it for the person he commands and counsels, saying, “This is better for you and more beneficial [for you] (6).” When he does it, Allah loves it and is pleased with it.

Created things, however, are willed by a creational, ontological will. This will encompasses what occurs, to the exclusion of what does not occur. A thing may be willed by Him without being loved; rather, He wills it because it leads to the existence of something He loves or because it is a condition for the existence of something He loves.