the purport of this ḥadīth converges with the Almighty’s words: “If they possessed all that is in the earth, and the like of it in addition, they would certainly offer it as a ransom.” (Q 13:18)

His saying, “I wanted from you,” means “I loved (desired) from you.” In the Sharīʿah the term irādah (divine will) is used in two ways:

1. It may refer to an all-embracing will that covers both good and evil, guidance and misguidance, as in His statement: “Whomever Allah wills to guide, He expands his breast to Islam; and whomever He wills to mislead, He makes his breast constrained and tight, as though he were climbing into the sky.” (Q 6:125) This universal will never fails.

2. At other times it denotes what is synonymous with love and pleasure, such as: “Allah intends ease for you and does not intend hardship for you.” (Q 2:185) This is the meaning intended here by “I wanted from you,” that is, “I loved.” This type of will may remain unrealised, for Allah—magnified be He—does not compel anyone to obey Him, even though He created them for that very purpose: “So whoever wills, let him believe; and whoever wills, let him disbelieve.” (Q 18:29)

Accordingly, Allah may will for His servant something He does not love from him, and love from him something He does not will.

Ibn al-Qayyim, may Allah have mercy on him, calls the first type “the cosmic will” (al-irādah al-kawniyyah), deriving the term from the verse: “His command, when He wills a thing, is only that He says to it, ‘Be,’ and it is.” (Q 36:82) He labels the second type, which is synonymous with pleasure, “the legislative will” (al-irādah al-sharʿiyyah). Whoever understands this division will see many of the knots surrounding the question of divine decree and predestination unravel, and will be safeguarded from the trial of fatalism (jabr) or the Muʿtazilite denial. A detailed discussion appears in the magnificent work Shifā’