Note 537 — Chapter VI
David Shea translation
There are three principal opinions about the decrees of God, and the power of man with regard to his actions, among the Muhammedans.
The first is that of the Motazalahs, according to which man is the agent in good and evil, in faith, and infidelity, in obedience and rebellion; all his actions are his; for it could not be said to man, “Act,” if he had not the faculty of acting. Evil and iniquity can by no means be attributed to God; an infidel is composed of a man and of infidelity: God created the first, but not the latter.
The second opinion is that of the rigid Jabariahs, followers of Jahmi Ebn Sefwan, whose sect flourished about the middle of the eighth century. According to them there is no action but in God; man acts, without power his own, without will or choice, exactly as a tree produces fruits, as water runs, as a stone moves. Reward and punishment are likewise proceeding from necessity, as well as the imposition of orders comes from necessity.
The third opinion is that of the moderate Jabariahs, and also that of the Asharian, who maintain that God creates the actions of man, good as well as bad, but that man acquires them: that is to say, God creates the power by, under, and with, which man acts, but man wills the action, and prepares himself to it, which is called كسب kasb, “acquisition;” an action therefore, with respect to creation, belongs to God, but with respect to production, by which it is manifested, that is, by “acquisition,” it depends upon man, and falls under his power. Abul Hasan of Isfahan says, that what makes an impression upon a fact, are the power of God and the power of man jointly. When man applies his mind to obedience, God creates in him the action of obedience, and when he applies his mind to transgression, God creates in him the action of transgression; and in that respect it is man who brings into existence or produces his action, although in reality he be not the producer.—(See on this abstruse subject, Pocock, pp. 243-251, with quotations from several authors.)