Islams Reformers

When they see a mad person in their own house or if they see him
commit a sin, they tolerate him by saying that he does not have
wisdom and option. Yet they punish sane people who commit sins.
Then they punish them because they have option and commit sins
willingly. The Jabriyya group departed from the right path by
saying that man did not have option and the Mu’tazila group
deviated because they disbelieved qadâ’ and qadar. They became
ahl al-bid’a. They went wrong. It has been the lot of the Ahl as-
Sunna scholars to find the right path which is between these two
extremes. It is reported that al-Imâm al-a’zâm Abû Hanîfe asked
Imâm Jâ’far as-Sâdiq (rahmatullâhi ’alaih) ‘O the grandson of
Rasûlullah! Has Allâhu ta’âlâ left the affairs to men’s wish?’ He
said in response, ‘Allâhu ta’âlâ does not leave the attribute of
being Rabb (Creator) of His human creatures.’ Abû Hanîfa asked
again, ‘Does He make His creatures do work under compulsion?’
He answered, ‘He neither forces them nor leaves it to their wish. It
is something between these two.’ Allâhu ta’âlâ declares in the one
hundred and forty-eighth âyat of the sûrat al-An’âm, ‘The
polytheists will say, “If Allah willed, we and our fathers would not
be polytheists, and we would not prohibit anything by ourselves.”
’ As in this âyat, disbelievers and polytheists say that Allah has
willed them to have disbelief and polytheism. Allâhu ta’âlâ will not
admit this pretext of theirs. Such words show their ignorance and
foolishness.
“Question: The Ahl as-Sunna scholars have said that every
good and evil thing happens as predestined, willed by Allâhu
ta’âlâ. Then disbelievers disbelieve because Allah has willed it so,
don’t they? Is their pretext not justifiable? Why would not their
words be admitted?
“Answer: Disbelievers do not say that they were forced into an
evil state or that they are excusable. They do not regard disbelief
and sins as guilts. They do not consider them evil. They say, ‘Allah
likes and approves eveything He wills; if He did not like, He
would not will. He wills our polytheism and disbelief and has us
do what we do. Therefore, He likes and approves all. He will not
torture those who do these.’ Allâhu ta’âlâ says at the end of the
above-quoted âyat, ‘So those who preceded them disbelieved [the
prophets of their time]. Therefore they tasted Our torture. Tell
them: “Do you have any knowledge that you can show us as a
proof? But you only guess and lie.” ’ Allâhu ta’âlâ declares in the
Qur’ân and in other holy books that disbelief is loathsome and
that He never likes it. He announces that disbelievers are
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