Like Being Given a Nice BMW

Article 26. Yahdī man yashāʾu wa yaʿṣimu wa yuʿāfī faḍlan, wa yuḍillu man yashāʾu wa yakhdhulu wa yabtalī ʿadlan.

This is point 26. There is just one point to make before moving on to it. The Muʿtazilah say that Allah (swt) does not create the evil actions of the human being; the human does it himself. Well, of course the human is responsible for them, because Allah gave them the ability to use the energy in the body to do good or bad. It is just like someone being given a nice BMW, and being told: go, use this for the good. It can be used to take people; on the other hand, it can also be used to do something else. The ability is there: the driver is misusing it, or abusing it, or using it properly; and he is accountable for that. Nobody is going to blame the car if he crashes into something, and say: let's get BMW. People do try to sue the companies for some malfunction or whatever, and say that it went beyond this, or whatever, that there was a malfunction. It hardly works. It is the individual who is going to be accountable.

So if they want to do it, He allows them to do it, because there is that window of free will that He has given them. So when they want to use that ability, someone could ask: why does Allah not stop the person? Well, if that is what the person wants to do, He allows them to realise that free will that the person has. But otherwise, wa mā tashāʾūna illā an yashāʾa Allāh: you can only will and want that which Allah (swt) wants.

So the Muʿtazilah actually say that those things are independently done; Allah (swt) does not do it. He has just given them this ability, and then they misuse it. We say no: Allah is the one who gives the ability, even for evil actions. But it is bad adab for us to say that Allah is the creator of bad actions — though He is, and we have to believe that as well — this, that and the other, except for educational purposes. Because that is bad adab; it is bad character; it is bad morals with Allah (swt), and etiquettes. But at the same time, that is our belief.

And there is a wisdom. So when the tsunami takes place and it shakes the leader of the church — in terms of their concept, which is a very limited and problematic concept of Allah being this all-merciful one, and not the one who avenges, or who punishes, and so on. Our concept of Allah is very rich: that this Supreme Creator can do everything, and whatever He wishes. So we do not have this problem. There is a wise purpose for everything that happens in the world. Sometimes we recognise it, and sometimes we do not.