and as these actions are good as well as bad, therefore God is the Creator of the evil deeds of man. The context, however, shows that mā ta‘malūn here means “what you make,” and not “what you do,” and the verse in question does not speak of the good and evil deeds of man, but of the idols and stones which were worshipped. The preceding verses 91-93 speak of Abraham’s breaking the idols; v. 94 says that when the people saw their idols broken, they advanced towards him; vv. 95, 96 contain Abraham’s arguments against idol-worship: “Do you worship that which you hew out? And Allāh has created you and what you make.” Now the concluding words “what you make” clearly refer to the idols which they made, and the argument is clear that what was hewed out by man’s own hands could not be God, God being the Creator of man as well as of the stones which were made into idols. This interpretation has been accepted by the best commentators.4

It may, however, be added that God is recognized by the Holy Qur’ān as the first and ultimate cause of all things; but this does not mean that He is the Creator of the deeds of man. He has, of course, created man; He has also created the circumstances under which he lives and acts; but still He has endowed man with a discretion to choose how to act, which he can exercise under certain limitations, just as all his other powers and faculties are exercised under limitations and only in accordance with certain laws. Thus it is said in the Holy Qur’ān: “The truth is from your Lord; so let him who please believe and let him who please disbelieve” (18:29). And as he can exercise his discretion or his will in doing a thing or not doing it, he is responsible for his own deeds and is made to suffer the consequences.5

The will of God and the will of man

A great deal of misunderstanding exists as to the relation of the Divine will to the will of man. All the faculties with which man has been endowed have emanated from the great Divine attributes. Yet all human attributes are imperfect, and can be exercised only under certain limitations and to a certain extent. God is All-Seeing and All-Hearing; man also sees and hears, but these attributes in him bear no comparison to the Divine attributes of seeing and hearing, being