The Refutation of the Qadariyyah Jabriyyah and the Deniers

Question:
And the Shaykh said: You mentioned a second division of the Qadariyyah. Are they among the people of the doctrine that man is free to choose? And if so, how does the refutation of these people apply to them?

Answer:
He is a traveler, not one who is free to choose. This is not the doctrine of the Qadariyyah al-Nafa'ah (the Deniers), but rather the doctrine of the Qadariyyah al-Ghulata (the Exaggerators) who hold to compulsion, the followers of Jahm ibn Safwan and others. These are the Jabriyyah; they are called Jabriyyah, or Qadariyyah Jabriyyah. They say that man is compelled. These are the opposite of the Deniers. These people affirmed the divine decree and exaggerated in it, may Allah protect us from that. They affirmed the decree and exaggerated in it until they said that man has no choice, but is like a feather in the wind, moved by the wind, or like a corpse in the hand of the washer; he has no choice, no will, and no desire. This is the saying of the Jabriyyah, the followers of Jahm ibn Safwan and others. They are the exact opposite of the Qadariyyah al-Nafa'ah, who affirm the slave's choice and the slave's ability and exaggerate in that until they say that he is independent in his actions, and that Allah has no will or desire over him. So each group exaggerated, may Allah protect us from that. As for the people of the Sunnah, they took the middle path between the two extremes, between the Qadariyyah al-Nafa'ah and the Qadariyyah al-Ghulata. Our previous discussion in this chapter was regarding the first type, the Qadariyyah al-Nafa'ah.