سورة الرعد

Imam Baqir (peace be upon him): هَلْ یَسْتَوِی الأَعْمَی وَالْبَصِیرُ [Are the blind and the seeing alike?] — that is, the believer and the disbeliever. أَمْ هَلْ تَسْتَوِی الظُّلُمَاتُ وَالنُّورُ [Or can the darkness and the light be equal?] — what is meant by the darkness is disbelief, and what is meant by the light is faith.

Ibn Abbas (may Allah have mercy on him): وَ ما یَسْتَوِی الْأَعْمی وَ الْبَصِیرُ [And the blind and the seeing are not alike]; الْأَعْمَی [the blind] is Abu Jahl, and الْبَصِیرُ [the seeing] is Amir al-Mu'minin (peace be upon him). وَ لَا الظُّلُماتُ وَ لَا النُّورُ [nor the darkness and the light]; so الظُّلُمَاتُ [the darkness] is Abu Jahl, and النُّورُ [the light] is Amir al-Mu'minin (peace be upon him). وَ لَا الظِّلُّ وَ لَا الْحَرُورُ [nor the shade and the scorching heat]; الظِّلُّ [the shade] is the shade of Amir al-Mu'minin (peace be upon him) in Paradise, and what is meant by الْحَرُورُ [the scorching heat] is Hell for Abu Jahl. Then He gathered them all together and said: "وَ ما یَسْتَوِی الْأَحْیاءُ وَ لَا الْأَمْواتُ [And the living and the dead are not alike]; so the living are Ali, Hamza, Ja'far, Hasan, Husayn, Fatima and Khadija, and the dead are the disbelievers of Mecca."

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): Zurarah said: I said to Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him), "One of the descendants of Abdullah ibn Saba believes in tafwid (delegation)." He said, "What is tafwid?" I said, "That Allah, Blessed and Exalted, created Muhammad (peace be upon him and his family) and Ali (peace be upon him) and delegated to them the matter of creation, sustenance, death and life." He said, "By Allah, the enemy of Allah has lied. When you see him, recite to him this verse which is in Surah al-Ra'd: أَمْ جَعَلُوا اللهَ شُرَکاءَ خَلَقُوا کَخَلْقِهِ فَتَشابَهَ الخَلْقُ عَلَیْهِمْ قُلِ اللهَ خالِقُ کُلِّ شَیْءٍ وَ هُوَ الْواحِدُ الْقَهَّار [Or have they set up with Allah associates who have created creation like His, so that what is created became confused to them? Say: Allah is the Creator of all things, and He is the One, the Supreme]."

Imam Rida (peace be upon him): Hamdan ibn Sulayman narrates: I wrote a letter to Imam Rida (peace be upon him) and asked him about the actions of people — whether they are created by Allah or not. He wrote in reply: "The actions of people were decreed in the knowledge of Allah, the Mighty and Majestic, two thousand years before the creation of people."

Imam Rida (peace be upon him): Fadl narrates: Among the things that Imam Rida (peace be upon him) wrote to Ma'mun as pure Islam is this: Allah, Blessed and Exalted, does not burden any soul beyond its capacity, and the actions of the servants are created by Allah — the creation of decree, not the creation of bringing into being. Allah is the Creator of everything, and we do not hold the doctrine of compulsion (jabr) or delegation (tafwid).

Imam Ali (peace be upon him): Actions are of three states: obligations (fara'id) — the actions which have been definitely fixed by Allah; virtues (fada'il) — the good deeds whose performance is good but not obligatory; and sins, which are forbidden and must not be done. As for the obligatory actions, they are in accordance with the command of Allah, are pleasing to Him, and are by His divine decree, His determination, His will, and He has known them. As for the virtues, they are not by the command of Allah — otherwise leaving them would not have been permitted — but they are pleasing to Allah and are by His divine decree and His will, and He has known them. As for the sins, they are not by the order of Allah, nor are they pleasing to Allah, but they come about by Allah's decree, His determination and His will, and Allah has known them, and then He punishes the sinners for them and gives them their recompense.

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): Allah, the Mighty and Majestic, created the creatures and knew what [each of] them would come to, and He commanded them and forbade them. Whatever He commanded them to do, He kept open for them the way to do it, and whatever He forbade them from, He kept open for them the way to leave it. And they neither do nor leave anything except by the permission of Allah, the Mighty and Majestic.