an unbeliever who Allah knew would not believe? Those who claim that Allah may impose upon a servant a duty that is impossible cite His imposing it upon him as evidence, and they claim that his faith is impossible because it would entail Allah’s knowledge turning into ignorance.

The answer to them is that the term “impossible” is equivocal. It may refer to what is impossible in itself, or to what is impossible because something else exists. The latter may be described as possible and within the scope of power, unlike the former. The faith of someone whom Allah knows will not believe is within that person’s power, but it will not occur. Allah knows that he will not believe even though he is capable of faith, just as Allah may know that someone will not perform Hajj even though that person is able to do so.

Some people claim that what is intrinsically impossible can be brought about, while others claim that certain things are possible although reason establishes their impossibility. Most such people either have not properly conceived what they are saying or do not understand what others mean by that expression. Equivocation and confusion thus arise in the wording or the meaning.

The truth of the matter is what Allah has stated in numerous places in His Book: He has power over all things, as previously explained. This is the doctrine of Ahl al-Sunnah, who affirm divine decree.

As for the Qadariyya among the Imāmiyya, the Mu‘tazila, and others, when they say, “He has power over everything that can be brought about,” they do not mean what those who affirm divine decree mean. They mean only that He has power over everything He is capable of bringing about. As for the servants’ own deeds—whether those of the angels, the jinn, or human beings—according to the Qadariyya, Allah has no power over them. They disagree only over whether He has power to bring about deeds like them.

If that is so, their assertion, “He has power over everything that can be brought about,” only (1) entails