And regarding wine He said...

And regarding wine He said: “The Satan only desireth to cause enmity and hatred in your midst through intoxicants and gambling and keep you away from remembering God and from prayer; will you then abstain (from them)?” (5:91) And in respect of murder, Allah, the Exalted, said: “...

and kill ye not the soul which God hath forbidden save for justice...” (6:152), and also said: “And whosoever killeth a believer intentionally, his recompense shall be Hell, he shall abide therein and God’s wrath shall be on him and His curse and (there) is prepared for him a great torment.” (4:93) which all indicate free will in killing. And even in relation to eating and drinking, He has designated for us certain limits when saying: “...

and eat ye and drink ye and commit ye not excesses; Verily He (God) loveth not the extravagants.” (7:31) that indicates free will too. After all these explicit Qur’ānic evidences, how do you, my master, claim that everything is destined by Allah, and man is compelled in all of his acts?? He replied: Allah, the Glorified, is administering the universe alone. He mentioned as an evidence the verse: "Say (O Apostle Muhammad!) “O’ God!

Master of the kingdom, Thou givest the kingdom unto whomsoever Thou likest and takest away the Kingdom from whomsoever Thou likest! Thou exaltest whomsoever Thou likest and abasest whomsoever Thou likest; in Thine hands is all good, Verily Thou art over all things Mighty.” (3:25) I said: No disagreement between us concerning the Will of Allah, the Glorified, and if Allah wills to do something, neither humans nor jinn, nor all other creatures can oppose or contradict His Will!

But our disagreement relates to the deeds of the human beings, are they produced by them or determined by Allah?? He replied: “Unto you be your religion and unto me my religion,” closing thus the door of controversy. This, most often, being the argument (hujjah) of our ‘ulamā’.

I recall that after two days, I returned to him saying: If you believe that it is Allah Who does everything, and the bondmen have no free will to do anything, so why don’t you hold the same belief concerning caliphate, and that Allah, the Glorified, creates whatever He will and chooses the best (of His bondmen)?

He said: Yes, I hold this view, as Allah, the Glorified, Himself has elected Abu Bakr, and after him ‘Umar, then ‘Uthmān, and then ‘Ali (as caliphs), and if He willed that ‘Ali be the first caliph, neither jinn nor mankind could be able to prevent this.