بِسْمِ ٱللَّٰهِ ٱلرَّحْمَٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ

Do the Ash’aris say Allāh can’t act?

This is a slander and falsehood presented by the opponents of the majority of the Islamic scholarship.

Ash’aris say Allāh has attributes such as Power, Will, Speech, Hearing, etc…

In simple terms, Allāh acts with His Power as He Wills. For a more advanced explanation, it is as follows.

Allāh’s Power connects to all things possible. This means He has the potential to bring anything possible into existence.

This linkage is called taaluq suluhi qadīm, or the potential to create it.

Allāh also has a Will that relates to all possible things. His eternal Will specifies when the thing in question will be brought into existence. This linkage of Will is called taaluq tanjizi qadim.

Let’s say Allāh’s Will determines X to exist at T2 (a point in time).

At T1, Allāh’s Power is attached to X with taaluq suluhi qadīm.

At T2, as per the determination of the Will, Allāh’s Power attaches to it as taaluq tanjizi hadith, or the actualized Power.

X has now been brought into existence.

One may ask, why is this controversial?

The opposition finds frustration with a coherent model that upholds tanzīh.

Ash’aris say we know an action occurred by the presence of the effect.

These causal relations are what we call the acts of God.

Allāh is Al-Razzaq. His act of giving rizq is when He creates sustenance for whom He Wills as He Wills.

Allāh is Al-Rahman. His act of giving mercy is when He creates blessings for whom He Wills as He Wills.

Allāh ﷻ knows best.

جَزَاكَ اللهُ خَيْرًا