عِدَّةٌ مِنْ أَصْحَابِنَا عَنْ أَحْمَدَ بْنِ أَبِي عَبْدِ الله عَنْ عُثْمَانَ بْنِ عِيسَى عَنْ إِسْمَاعِيلَ بْنِ جَابِرٍ قَالَ كَانَ فِي مَسْجِدِ الْمَدِينَةِ رَجُلٌ يَتَكَلَّمُ فِي الْقَدَرِ وَالنَّاسُ مُجْتَمِعُونَ قَالَ فَقُلْتُ يَا هَذَا أَسْأَلُكَ قَالَ سَلْ قُلْتُ يَكُونُ فِي مُلْكِ الله تَبَارَكَ وَتَعَالَى مَا لا يُرِيدُ قَالَ فَأَطْرَقَ طَوِيلاً ثُمَّ رَفَعَ رَأْسَهُ إِلَيَّ فَقَالَ لِي يَا هَذَا لَئِنْ قُلْتُ إِنَّهُ يَكُونُ فِي مُلْكِهِ مَا لا يُرِيدُ إِنَّهُ لَمَقْهُورٌ وَلَئِنْ قُلْتُ لا يَكُونُ فِي مُلْكِهِ إِلا مَا يُرِيدُ أَقْرَرْتُ لَكَ بِالْمَعَاصِي قَالَ فَقُلْتُ لابِي عَبْدِ الله (عَلَيْهِ السَّلام) سَأَلْتُ هَذَا الْقَدَرِيَّ فَكَانَ مِنْ جَوَابِهِ كَذَا وَكَذَا فَقَالَ لِنَفْسِهِ نَظَرَ أَمَا لَوْ قَالَ غَيْرَ مَا قَالَ لَهَلَكَ.
A number of persons of our people have narrated from Ahmad ibn abu ‘Abd Allah from ‘Uthman ibn ‘Isa from Isma‘il ibn Jabir who has said the following:
“In the mosque of Madina there was a person who spoke of the issue of predetermination and people had gathered around him. I said to him, ‘O you, can I ask you a question?’ He said, ‘Yes, you may do so.’ I then said, ‘Can there be a thing in the kingdom of Allah the Majestic, the Glorious, that He may not want?’ He remained thinking for a while and then said to me, ‘O you, if I said that there can be something in His kingdom He does not want it means that He is defeated. If I say that there is nothing in His kingdom that He may not want I am giving you permission to commit sin.
“I then told the story of that determinist to abu ‘Abd Allah , who said, ‘He (the determinist man) looked for his own interest. Had he said something else he would have been destroyed.’”