How Imam Yahya Al-Hadi Explained Allah’s Will and Human Choice
Min Masāʾil al-Ṭabariyyīn · The questions of the Tabaristanis
How Imam Yaḥyā al-Hādī Explained Allah’s Will and Human Choice
Two consecutive answers from Min Masāʾil al-Ṭabariyyīn — the questions of the Tabaristanis — on Allah’s will (irāda), the capacity (istiṭāʿa) He gives human beings, and their exercise of choice (ikhtiyār).
In Min Masāʾil al-Ṭabariyyīn (Questions of the Tabaristanis), Imam Yaḥyā al-Hādī (d. 298 AH) answers a question that turns on an important distinction: can human beings do something without Allah’s will (irāda)?
His answer depends on what the question is asking. Can people do something Allah does not will (lā yurīdu)? Yes. Can they act without the capacity (istiṭāʿa) Allah has placed within them? No. The distinction is between the ability Allah gives and the particular acts people perform with it.
The next question brings that distinction to a Qur’anic expression: “You do not will (tashāʾūna) unless He wills (yashāʾa).” The Imam explains it through Allah’s provision of intellects (ʿuqūl) and capacity (istiṭāʿa), without which human beings could neither distinguish between things nor choose among them.
Two questions
Question 1 of 2
Will and capacity — al-irāda wa-l-istiṭāʿa الإرادة والاستطاعة
You asked: Can human beings perform an act without Allah’s will (irāda)?
Arabic
وسألت: هل يقدر الآدميون أن يفعلوا فعلاً بغير إرادة الله؟
الجواب في ذلك: إنك إن كنت تريد هل يقدر العباد أن يفعلوا ما لا يريد الله؟
فنعم، قد يقدرون على ذلك بما جعل الله فيهم من الاستطاعة والقدرة والتمكين، فدعوا مع الله إلهاً آخر ولم يرد الله ذلك، وعبدوا مع الله إلهاً آخر، وعبدوا من دونه النار والأوثان والأصنام ولم يرد الله ذلك.
وإن كنت تريد بقولك: هل يقدر العباد أن يفعلوا فعلاً بغير إرادة الله — تريد هل كان العباد يقدرون على فعل شيء بغير استطاعة الله التي ركبها الله فيهم وأراد جعلها في أيديهم؟
فلا؛ لم يكن أحد ليستطيع أن يفعل فعلاً لولا الله أراد أن يركب فيه الاستطاعة التي يقدر بها على الفعل، وإنما ركب الله فيهم الاستطاعات امتحاناً وأمرهم أن يستعملوها في طاعته دون معصيته، وجعلهم قادرين على العملين جميعاً ليطيعوه اختياراً أو يعصوه اختياراً، ﴿لِيَهْلِكَ مَنْ هَلَكَ عَنْ بَيِّنَةٍ وَيَحْيَى مَنْ حَيَّ عَنْ بَيِّنَةٍ وَإِنَّ اللَّهَ لَسَمِيعٌ عَلِيمٌ﴾ [الأنفال: ٤٢].
Translation
The answer is this: if your intention is to ask whether the servants can do what Allah does not will (lā yurīdu), then yes. They can do so through the capacity (istiṭāʿa), power (qudra), and enablement (tamkīn) that Allah has placed within them.
They invoked another god alongside Allah, though Allah did not will (lam yurid) that. They worshipped another god alongside Allah, and worshipped fire, idols, and images besides Him, though Allah did not will (lam yurid) that.
But if, by asking whether the servants can perform an act without Allah’s will (irāda), your intention is to ask whether they could perform anything without the capacity (istiṭāʿa) Allah has placed within them and willed (arāda) to put at their disposal, then no.
No one could perform an act had Allah not willed (arāda) to endow him with the capacity (istiṭāʿa) by which he can act. Allah endowed them with these capacities (istiṭāʿāt) as a test (imtiḥān) and commanded them to employ them in obedience (ṭāʿa) to Him rather than in disobedience (maʿṣiya) to Him.
He made them capable of both kinds of action, so that they might obey Him by choice (ikhtiyār) or disobey Him by choice (ikhtiyār): “So that whoever perishes may perish upon clear evidence, and whoever lives may live upon clear evidence. Surely Allah is All-Hearing, All-Knowing” [Qur’an 8:42].
Question 2 of 2
“You do not will unless He wills” وَمَا تَشَاؤُونَ إِلَّا أَنْ يَشَاءَ
You asked about Allah’s saying: “And you do not will (tashāʾūna) unless He wills (yashāʾa)” [Qur’an 76:30].
Arabic
وسألت: عن قول الله سبحانه: ﴿وَمَا تَشَاؤُونَ إِلَّا أَنْ يَشَاءَ﴾ [الإنسان: ٣٠]؟
الجواب في ذلك: أنه يقول لولا أن الله شاء أن يجعل فيكم عقولاً واستطاعة ما تميزون بها ما قدرتم على أن تشاؤوا شيئاً، ولا تكرهوا ضده، ولكن الله سبحانه شاء أن يجعل فيكم استطاعة لذلك فجعل فيكم هذه العقول التي تميزون بها بين الأشياء وتحبون بها بعض الأشياء وتكرهون بعضاً.
Translation
The answer is this: He is saying that, had Allah not willed (shāʾa) to place within you intellects (ʿuqūl) and capacity (istiṭāʿa), you would not distinguish through them; you would not have been able to will (tashāʾū) anything or dislike its opposite.
But Allah, exalted is He, willed (shāʾa) to give you the capacity (istiṭāʿa) for this. He therefore placed within you these intellects (ʿuqūl) through which you distinguish between things, love some things, and dislike others.
“He made them capable of both kinds of action, so that they might obey Him by choice (ikhtiyār) or disobey Him by choice (ikhtiyār).” — the Imam’s answer on human action
The shared thread
Read together, the two answers distinguish the gift of an ability from the use made of it. The Imam does not describe human beings as acting independently of Allah: their capacity (istiṭāʿa), power (qudra), and enablement (tamkīn) come from Him. But neither does he treat every use of those gifts as something Allah wills (yurīdu). His examples are explicit: people invoked and worshipped other gods, and Allah did not will (lam yurid) that.
The wording of the two questions is also worth noticing. The first uses the noun irāda, “will,” and verbs from arāda, “to will.” The second uses forms of shāʾa: tashāʾūna, “you will,” and yashāʾa, “He wills.” In explaining the latter, the Imam points to what Allah has made possible through intellects (ʿuqūl) and capacity (istiṭāʿa). His emphasis is on the divine provision that makes human willing possible, not on identifying every human decision with something Allah desires.
This is why the first answer describes the arrangement as a test (imtiḥān). Allah commands people to use their abilities in obedience (ṭāʿa), while making them capable of disobedience (maʿṣiya) as well. The dependence of human beings upon their Creator and their exercise of choice (ikhtiyār) are therefore held together: the ability comes from Allah, while its obedient or disobedient exercise is something the person chooses.
O Allah, send blessings and peace upon Muhammad and the family of Muhammad.
Note — Arabic spelling and punctuation have been lightly normalized; the editor’s footnotes are not reproduced.
Source — al-Hādī ilā al-Ḥaqq Yaḥyā b. al-Ḥusayn (d. 298 AH). Min Masāʾil al-Ṭabariyyīn Ajāba ʿAnhā al-Imām al-Hādī Yaḥyā b. al-Ḥusayn ʿalayhi al-salām. Edited by Ustadh Jamāl al-Shāmy, 2016, pp. 16–17.