Refuting the doubt of the Mu'tazilah who obligate upon Allah what the intellect deems good, rather than what the wisdom of Allah necessitates.

If someone were to say: "If you affirm wisdom for Allah, and something occurs among the actions of Allah or in the legislation of Allah for which we do not know the wisdom, or for which we suspect the wisdom lies in the opposite, what is the answer?" The answer is: If we suspect that this has no wisdom, that is only due to the deficiency of our understanding and our inability to grasp the wisdom. And if we suspect that it is contrary to wisdom, that is only due to our poor understanding. The one who suspects that there is no wisdom is deficient in understanding, and the one who suspects that it is contrary to wisdom is poor in understanding. As for the one with sound understanding, whom Allah the Exalted grants understanding, the wisdom will become clear to him. And yet, it is not possible for us to grasp all aspects of the wisdom ever, because the wisdom of Allah Mighty and Majestic cannot have its end grasped, and man is a deficient human being. How many things, or how many legal rulings, do you think their wisdom is such and such, and then it becomes clear to you that they have other wisdoms, or perhaps it becomes clear to you that this is not the wisdom, but the wisdom is something else. It is obligatory upon you to believe that there is no ruling of Allah, whether cosmic or legislative, except that it has a wisdom. If you say: "It follows from your statement that you would adopt the path of the Mu'tazilah in the obligation of goodness or the obligation of the best, meaning if two actions conflict, one being better than the other, is it obligatory upon Allah to do the best?" If you say: "No," you have denied wisdom. And if you say: "Yes," there is a problem. It is said first: You may suspect that this is the best, when it is not the best. Let us give an example for this: We suspect that the best is the descent of rain and the fertility of the land, is that not so? Yes. So if the rain is withheld and the land becomes barren, this may be the reformer, is that not so? And we did not understand. So it is not possible for us to say it is obligatory upon Allah to do such and such because it is the best, because what we called the best may be the worst, is that not so? Yes. Good. Second: If we verify that it is the best, then it is obligatory by the necessity of wisdom, not by the necessity of the intellect. We do not obligate upon Allah with our intellects, and the intellect does not obligate anything upon Allah, because it is a created, deficient thing, so it does not obligate anything upon the Perfect, Eternal, Everlasting One. So if the action of the best becomes obligatory, then who obligated it upon Himself? Allah. Allah the Exalted said: He is the one who obligated it. And He said: So He obligated upon Himself to guide the people and show them the way, is that not so? Good. So we say: If it is established that this is the best, then it has become obligatory upon Allah by the necessity of His wisdom and His obligating it upon Himself, not by the necessity of our intellects and our obligating it upon Him. And by this, we are freed from the statement of the Mu'tazilah who hold that the intellect is what obligates a thing, or what prevents a thing, or what makes a thing ugly, or what makes a thing good. Is that clear? Good. An example of that is: The explanation to the creation, the explanation of the laws to the creation and what is obligatory upon them toward their Lord, and what is obligatory upon Him toward the servants of Allah. Is this obligatory upon Allah or not? Yes, it is obligatory upon Allah by the necessity of wisdom upon us, and this indicates what? It indicates obligation.