that He has power over everything that lies within His power, while anyone else likewise has power over everything that lies within his power.

Yet the most they claim is that He can bring about the like of what the servants can bring about, whereas a servant cannot bring about the like of what lies within another agent’s power.

In any event, if what is meant is that He has power over whatever lies within His power, this is tantamount to saying: “He knows everything He knows and creates everything He creates,” and similar expressions that convey nothing](1)—such as saying, “He is the doer of all that is done,” or, “Zayd knows everything(2) that he knows, is able to do everything he can(3), and does everything he does(4).”

For(5) the issue(6) is to specify the things over which power extends: Does He have power over all things? The doctrine(7) of these Imāmiyya and their Qadariyya teachers is that He does not have power over all things(8); that the servants have power over things beyond His power; that He cannot guide someone who is astray, cause anyone rightly guided to stray, make a seated person stand of his own volition, or make a standing person sit of his own volition; and that He cannot make anyone [a Muslim](9), one who prays, one who fasts, one who performs Hajj, or one who performs Umrah, nor