created by Allah. This is the position of people who espouse both Muʿtazilism and the Imamate (1).”
Thus, the Imāmiyya held three views: some agreed with those who affirmed that human acts are created by Allah; some agreed with the Muʿtazila; and some suspended judgment.
[As for those who suspended judgment, the substance of their position is the same as that of Ahl al-Sunnah, though they refrained from using the formulation. Ahl al-Sunnah affirm neither the delegation of power—as the Qadariyya do—nor compulsion—as the Jahmiyya do. Rather, the leading imams of the Sunnah, such as al-Awzāʿī, al-Thawrī, ʿAbd al-Rahmān ibn Mahdī, Ahmad ibn Hanbal, and others, unanimously rejected the doctrine of the proponents of compulsion transmitted from Jahm ibn Safwān and his followers. Although al-Ashʿarī accepts most of that doctrine and denies causes and wise purposes, the early generations affirm causes and wisdom.
The point is that, if the Imāmiyya have two positions] (2), they are divided over this (3), just as everyone else is. Yet they are [derivative of others in this and in other matters] (4): those among them who affirm it (5) follow those who affirm it, while those among them who deny it follow those who deny it—[except for the fabrications peculiar to the Rāfida. No other group within the Muslim community shares the falsehood, ignorance, and denial of truth peculiar to them. As for what they say concerning all the other questions of