Had Allah (awj) made it impossible for man to choose falsehood...

Had Allah (awj) made it impossible for man to choose falsehood, belief and obedience would not have been volitional and man would not have free will. Detailed Answer In order to clarify the answer to this question we must pay attention to the following points: The aim and end of Allah’s (awj) actions: Allah (awj) is not limited by any thing. This is because He is the necessary being and His existence does not depend on another. He has, therefore, all perfections.

One of His perfections is the fact that He is the giver of grace and is generous. Allah (awj) has said in the Qur`an, “The grace of Allah is not withheld.” [^1] On Allah’s (awj) part, there is nothing that prevents Him from giving. Therefore, if in an instance He does not give, it is because of the limitations of receiver; not the Giver. Everything that can be given, is given. Every good thing, it can be said, is backed by existence while every evil is “backed” by non-existence.

For example, knowledge is goodness and perfection while ignorance is evil and imperfection. Also, power, in opposition to incapacity, is perfection and good. When we pay attention to the third preliminary, we can infer that the grace of Allah (awj) comes about by means of His creating. Therefore, the giving-nature necessitates creation.

In other words, if we suppose something deserves to exist but Allah (awj) does not create it, then this is preventing a good from occurring and will be considered niggardliness (given that existence is good). We know, however, that Allah (awj) cannot be miserly. We can conclude from these preliminaries that if one were asked, “Why does Allah create,” we can reply that “His being the giver of grace has caused Him to create.” The attributes of Allah (awj) are not external to His Essence.

The attributes of Man and other bodies are additional to their essence. For example the apple has an essence and redness and sweetness are its external attributes. The apple can be sour or green and still be an apple. The unity of Allah (awj) and His attributes is a extensive theological problem that one can follow further in theology under the discussion on the unity of His attributes.

What concerns us here is the fact that Allah’s (awj) creativity, which is the purpose of creation, is one with His essence and does not lie outside His essence. Therefore, if we are asked, “Why does Allah create,” we will reply that, “because He is Allah.” Therefore, the cause for His creating is Himself.