THE SITUATION OF THE DIVINE OFFERS THAT CANNOT BE STRENGTHENED IN VERSES AND HUMAN CREATION
Authors: MAVİŞ Nezir 
Published: June 2022

Whether it is permissible for Allah to impose responsibilities beyond his power and possibilities is one of the most controversial theological issues. The Mu'tazila, who gave full freedom and right of choice to people in their actions, described the proposal divine offer that could not be achieved as cruelty in line with this understanding. Since Allah's doing evil/bad and ugly things like cruelty is incompatible with His attribute of justice, he did not consider the proposal divine offer that could not be achieved permissible. In the Ash'arī view, which states that Allah can do whatever He wishes by acting out of His infinite will and power, and that to say otherwise would limit Him, it is argued that the divine offer that could not be achieved, is permissible. The first of these views seems to be compatible with the scriptures and the characteristics of human nature such as mind, will, power and conscience. For, it is permissible for Allah to use his infinite knowledge, will and power against the human being whom He has created with helpless, weak and limited means -even if it remains in theory- without considering any principles such as wisdom, justice and fairness, and to impose things that he cannot overcome, according to the scriptures, divine justice, wisdom, compassion is incompatible with scriptures, and it is also incompatible with the verses of taysīr, which state that Islām is a religion of ease. Mu'tazila, who does not consider it permissible for Allah to impose obligations on His servants that exceed their power and possibilities, has easily justified this view in terms of reason, and has succeeded in making this justification consistently with the verses that he has given evidence for. This understanding, which draws attention to the fact that Allah not only imposes responsibilities on people that they cannot do, but also facilitates them in what they can do, has been able to present the verses about the ease aspect of Islam as evidence supporting the view of divine offer. In fact, considering the non-supporting structures of the taysīr verses and the divine offer, which cannot be achieved, it is understood that those who accept one should reject the other, and what Mu'tazila did is valuable and meaningful in this respect. On the one hand, the same cannot be said for Ash'arīyya, who emphasizes that Allah facilitates His servants in religious matters in the interpretation of the taysīr verses, and on the other hand, insisting on the validity of the divine offer, which could not be realized in practice, but based some other verses on it. Ash'arīyyah, who has a transmission-centered understanding of theology, considers it necessary to act according to some principles such as wisdom and justice while disposing of the universe and the beings in it, which is His property, based on Allah's infinite power and will. thought it would hurt. Therefore, in this understanding, which states that there is no mention of oppression for Allah and that it is justice for Him to do whatever He wishes, it has been deemed valid that Allah makes proposals beyond his power, even if they do not occur in reality but remain in theory. Although this view, based on divine power and will, may seem correct on the surface, it casts a shadow over Allah's attributes such as wisdom, justice, compassion and mercy; It harms the imagination of Allah, who is al-Rahmān, al-Rahīm and al-Hakim, who observes wisdom in what they do, treats his servants with compassion and mercy. In addition to the fact that the Ash'arītes say that the power that requires action is based on the will and choice of human beings, the fact that they see property, possibility and havātir as the determining factors in the interpretation of the verses related to the subject, shows that they do not consider the divine offer that cannot be held to be absolutely valid. When this situation is evaluated together with their insistence on defending the divine offer that cannot be held, it is understood that anti-Mu'tazilism was effective in their views and comments on this subject, as in some of their other views. Although they associate the taysīr verses, which state that Islam is the religion of convenience, with the aspect of ease of Islam, their permissiveness to the divine offer, which cannot be achieved, is an indication of this. The same is the case when they cannot put the issue on a ground of legitimacy at the level of confidence. Because one of the factors that ensure that an opinion or interpretation is accurate is to be able to look at the issue from an objective perspective. It becomes difficult to justify the opinions expressed by sacrificing objectivity.