he is thereby committed to holding that the servants’ actions are Allah’s act, not the act of His servants, as maintained by [Jahm ibn Safwān] and al-Asharī(1), as well as those who agree with him among the adherents of the four imams and others(2). They say that the act of creation is identical with the created thing, and that the servants’ actions are Allah’s creation [Mighty and Majestic](3). Thus(4), they are Allah’s act and what Allah has effected(5), just as they are His creation and what He has created.

(* These people [do not] say(6), “The servants are truly the agents of their actions”; rather, they say that the servants acquire them. Yet when they are asked(7) to explain the distinction between acting and acquisition, they provide no intelligible distinction.

Hence it used to be said:

The marvels of speculative theology are [three](8): Abū Hāshim’s “states,” al-Nazzām’s “leap,” and al-Asharī’s “acquisition.” *)(9)