And if Allah had willed, He would have made you one nation, a true Muslim nation, on the path of compulsion and necessity. [Mahamud said: "Its meaning is on the way of compulsion and coercion." Ahmad said: "This is an interpretation of the Mu'tazila, which has been presented in similar verses. Its aim is to escape from the truth derived from the conditional will, which indicates that the will of Allah, glorified and exalted is He, is for the faith of all creation to occur, and that He only willed their separation and difference, in faith and disbelief, truthfulness and denial, as has occurred among them. If He had willed to encompass them with faith, it would have happened. Al-Zamakhshari contradicts this text and says: 'He willed to make them one nation, a true Muslim nation, but His will did not occur.' So when he is asked: 'What do you attribute the will to in the verse?' He says: 'To the will of their faith by compulsion, not by choice, and this will did not occur by coincidence.'] He is capable of that, but wisdom necessitated that He leads astray whom He wills, which means that He forsakes the one He knows will choose disbelief [Regarding the saying: 'which means that He forsakes the one He knows will choose disbelief,' this is according to the Mu'tazila. As for the people of the Sunnah, leading astray is: creating misguidance in the heart, because it is permissible for Allah to create evil according to them, unlike the Mu'tazila, as explained in its place. (A)] and insists upon it, and guides whom He wills, which means that He is gentle with the one He knows will choose faith.

This means: He based the matter on choice and on what deserves gentleness and forsakenness, reward and punishment, and did not base it on compulsion, which does not deserve anything of that. He affirmed this with His saying: 'And you will surely be asked about what you used to do.' And if He were the one compelled to misguidance [Regarding the saying: 'And if He were the one compelled to misguidance,' meaning the active participle, i.e., the one who compels the servants and forces them. And the saying: 'If He had not established...,' is accepted, but He did not compel them or force them. And if He were the creator of their actions in reality, for what they have in earning, as established by the people of the Sunnah in the science of monotheism, let him consider. (A)] and guidance, He would not have established for them an action for which they would be questioned. [He returned to his words. Mahamud said: 'And among the indications that Allah did not base the matter on compulsion, but rather on choice, is His saying: 'And you will surely be asked about what you used to do.' And if He were compelled to guidance and misguidance, He would not have established for them what they are questioned about.' Ahmad said: 'As for the people of the Sunnah, whom the author calls the compellers, they are far from compulsion, for they affirm for the servant ability and choice and actions, and they still unite Allah in His true oneness, making His ability the creator and the influencer, and the ability of the servant merely comparative, distinguishing between the voluntary and the forced, and thereby establishing Allah's proof over His servant. And Allah is the guide.'].