And they said, "If the Most Merciful had wished, we would not have worshipped them." These are two acts of disbelief that are also included among the three acts of disbelief. They are: their worship of the angels besides Allah, and their claim that their worship is by the will of Allah, as their brothers, the Jabriyyah, say. [The term 'Jabriyyah' refers to the people of the Sunnah, who say that He, the Exalted, wills evil as He wills good, because nothing occurs in His kingdom except what He wills. However, this does not necessitate compulsion nor does it negate the choice of the servant, due to the earning he has in his actions, even though they are created by Him in reality. Rather, compulsion would only apply if the servant had no role in his actions at all, like a feather in the air, as the true Jabriyyah have said.] Allah condemned that statement from the disbelievers because they said it in mockery and defiance, not in acknowledgment and belief. The evidence for this is the consensus of the predecessors of the Ummah that whatever Allah wills occurs, and whatever He does not will does not occur. (A) If you say: What do you deny about those who say: They said this in mockery, and if they had said it seriously, they would have been believers? I say: There is no evidence that they said it mockingly, and claiming what has no evidence is false. Moreover, Allah, the Exalted, has narrated this about them in a manner of condemnation and testimony of disbelief: that they made a part of His servants for Him, and that He took daughters and preferred them with sons, and that they made the honored angels females, and that they worshipped them and said: "If the Most Merciful had wished, we would not have worshipped them." If they were speaking these words in mockery, then the utterance of the narrated words [The phrase 'the utterance of the narrated words...' is prohibited, as is what follows. The Mu'tazilah said that He does not will evil based on the premise that will is command, which is prohibited. May Allah forgive the author of the book for his foul tongue against the people of the Sunnah, and for making them brothers of the disbelievers. (A)] - before this narration, which is faith for him, they would have found praise in uttering it, since it is a statement of disbelief they uttered in mockery. Therefore, it remains that they must be serious, and they all share in that they are words of disbelief. If they say: We make this last statement alone to be said in mockery, and not what came before it, then they have nothing but to distort the Book of Allah, which falsehood cannot approach from before it or from behind it, to equate their false doctrine. If this were a word of truth they uttered in mockery, then the statement of Allah, the Exalted, "What do they have of knowledge in that? They are only conjecturing," would have no meaning. Because whoever says there is no deity but Allah in a mocking manner, it is obligatory to deny his mockery, not to lie, because it is not permissible to deny the one who speaks the truth, whether he is serious or mocking. If you say: What is your opinion of one who interprets "What do they have" - by saying: [The phrase 'What is your opinion of one who interprets what they have by saying' may be: 'interprets what they have in that statement as what they have by saying... etc. (A)] that the angels are the daughters of Allah - as knowledge, they are only conjecturing in that statement, not in linking their worship to the will of Allah? I say: This is a false interpretation and a stubborn distortion. Similar to His saying, "Those who associate partners will say, 'If Allah had wished, we would not have associated partners, nor would our forefathers, nor would we have prohibited anything.' Thus did those before them deny."