It was narrated from Imam Al-Junayd, the Imam of the true Sufiyys, that when he was asked about Tawhid he said, “Certainty.” Then he was asked for clarification, so he said, “Certainly, there is no one who gives being to anything among the things, whether entities or deeds, and no creator for them other than Allah.”

Allah the Exalted Said:

﴿وَاللَّـهُ خَلَقَكُمْ وَمَا تَعْمَلُونَ﴾

[which means] “Allah Created you and your deeds,” and the Messenger of Allah said:

إنَّ الله صَانِعُ كُلّ صَانعٍ وصَنْعَتِه

[which means] “Certainly Allah is the Maker of every maker and his making,” as narrated by Al-Hakim, Al-Bayhaqiyy, and Ibn Hibban from the hadith of Hudhayfah.  Since the slaves do not create anything of their deeds, and instead they acquire them, Allah certainly Said:

﴿اللَّـهُ خَالِقُ كُلِّ شَيْءٍ﴾

[which means] “Allah is the Creator of everything.” Allah is praised by this, because it is something specific to him, and that dictates absolute inclusivity of all entities, deeds, movements and stillnesses.

Allah the Exalted Said:

﴿قُلْ إِنَّ صَلَاتِي وَنُسُكِي وَمَحْيَايَ وَمَمَاتِي لِلَّـهِ رَ‌بِّ الْعَالَمِينَ _* لَا شَرِ‌يكَ لَهُ وَبِذَٰلِكَ أُمِرْ‌تُ وَأَنَا أَوَّلُ الْمُسْلِمِينَ﴾

[which means] “[O Muhammad,] say: ‘Certainly my prayer and my nusuk,[2] and my life and my death, are all owned by Allah; He has no partners. With this I was Commanded, and I am the first of the Muslims among this nation.” Allah Mentioned the prayer, nusuk, life and death all in one context, and He made all of that His Ownership. So just as Allah is the Creator of life and death, and likewise He is the Creator of the voluntary deeds, like the prayer, and the nusuk, the involuntary deeds are even more obviously Created by Allah.

What is special about the voluntary deeds, meaning the deeds to which we have an inclination, is that they are the deeds related to acquisition.  Therefore accountability is related to those voluntary deeds. Acquisition, which is the deed of the slave, for which he is either rewarded or punished in the Hereafter, is for the slave to direct his intention and his will towards a deed; meaning he spends his power in that. Then Allah will Create it for him upon that. So the slave is an acquirer of his deed, and Allah is the Creator of the deed of this slave, which is his acquisition, and this is among the most ambiguous matters in this Science.

Allah the Exalted Said:

﴿لَهَا مَا كَسَبَتْ وَعَلَيْهَا مَا اكْتَسَبَتْ﴾

[which means] “For every soul is what it acquired, and against it is what it acquired.” Therefore the human being is not compelled, nor is he forced to act, because compulsion negates accountability.  This is the true way; it is different from [the belief of] compulsion and it is different from denying the Qadar.  It is different from the schools of the Jabriyyah and the Qadariyyah.

Whoever says that the slave creates his own deeds, like the Mu^tazilah, blasphemes; as Ibn ^Abbas said, may Allah Accept his deeds, “The talk of the Qadariyyah is blasphemy,” and the Qadariyyah are the Mu^tazilah.  Abu Yusuf said, “The Mu^tazilah are not people of religion,” and Abu Mansur At-Tamimiyy in his book Al-Farqu Bayna-l-Firaq described them as mushriks.  Abu Mansur is the one that Ibn Hajar Al-Haytamiyy said about him, “The great Imam, the Imam of our colleagues, Abu Mansur Al-Baghdadiyy said…” and he is among those from whom Al-Bayhaqiyy copied hadith.

Do not be enticed by the lack of charging them with blasphemy from the later scholars.  Ustadh Abu Mansur At-Tamimiyy conveyed the Imams’ charge of blasphemy against them in his books Usulu-d-Din and Tafsiru-l-Asma’u wa-s–Sifat.  He said in his book, Tafsiru-l-Asma’u wa-s–Sifat: “Our colleagues have a consensus about charging the Mu^tazilah with blasphemy, meaning those who say the slave creates his voluntary deeds, and likewise those who say that it is obligatory on Allah to do what is most beneficial for the slave.”

He means by his saying, “Our colleagues,” the Ash^ariyys and the Shafi^iyys, because he is an Ash^ariyy and a Shafi^iyy; in fact, he is a prominent leader among the Shafi^iyys, as said by Ibn Hajar, and he is a forerunning Imam in the conveyance of documents.  He is known for that among the scholars of fiqh, the scholars of usul, and the historians who have authored works about the factions; so whoever wants more certainty, let him read these books of his.  His conveyance is not discredited by the talk of Al-Bajuriyy and his likes who came before him or after him.

As for the talk of some of the early scholars in reference to abandoning charging the Mu^tazilah with blasphemy, that is in likes to Bishr Al-Marisiyy and Al-Ma’mun Al-^Abbasiyy because Bishr agreed with them in saying that the Qur’an is created[3], and he charged them with blasphemy for saying that the slaves create their own deeds.  So know that not everyone who is ascribed to the school of the Mu^tazilah is judged with the same judgment, but every single individual among them is judged as being misguided.

[1] Allah being exclusively Attributed with Creating.

[2] The worships of Hajj, or slaughter.

[3] This statement is not explicit blasphemy, because by it it may be meant that the Revealed Expressions are created.