Is man compelled or given choice?

The Shaykh : Just as the Jabriyyah are also refuted, like the Mu'tazilah, when they say that man is compelled. We see examples of this every hour of our lives, indeed in every movement we make. I am speaking to you right now; can anyone say, "I am compelled"?

The questioner: No.

The Shaykh : Now, I challenge you. Yes, you are compelled to speak, right? ... No one compelled me. So, I have a choice. But if Allah wills, may Allah forbid, if He were to silence me right now, what would be in my hands? Let the Mu'tazilah say, "I created the speech." No, everything is by the divine decree and destiny, as he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: This is a very long discussion, and we have spoken about it repeatedly, but I will say one word: Allah's decree and destiny are an Islamic belief. If a Muslim fails to reconcile in his mind the belief that man, by Allah, has a choice, for if he were compelled as the ignorant say, he would not be told "do this" or "do not do that," as that poet said:
"He cast him bound into the sea, then said to him: *** Beware, beware, lest you be wet by the water."
The Shaykh : If a person described a man with the description this poet gave his Lord, he would attribute injustice to him. If a person described a king or a president with this description, he would call him unjust, and nothing more unjust. So what of him who describes the Lord of the Worlds? He bound him and cast him into the sea, then said to him, "Wake up, you will be wet by the water." Far be it from Allah. Rather, He said: And He said: and so on. So, both the Mu'tazilah and the Jabriyyah are false, and the truth lies between them. Man, in what he has a choice in, is rewarded or punished, and in what happens to him against his will, he is not responsible. In the name of Allah.