or they argue using predestination, or they combine both matters, as Allāh said about the polytheists (Sūrah al-Aʿrāf, 28): "And when they commit an immorality, they say, 'We found our fathers doing it, and Allāh has commanded us to do it.' Say, 'Indeed, Allāh does not command immorality. Do you say about Allāh that which you do not know?'" And as He said about them (Sūrah al-Anʿām, 148): "Those who associate others with Allāh will say, 'If Allāh had willed, we would not have associated anything, nor would our fathers, nor would we have prohibited anything.'" And it has been mentioned about the polytheists what they innovated in the religion which contains

in the likes of His saying (Sūrah al-Anʿām, 138): "And they say, 'These animals and crops are forbidden; none may eat from them except whom we will,' by their claim, and there are animals whose backs are forbidden, and animals over which they do not mention the name of Allāh, fabricating against Him" to the end of the sūrah. And likewise in Sūrah al-Aʿrāf (27-33): "O children of Adam, let not Satan tempt you as he removed your parents from Paradise" to His saying: "And when they commit an immorality, they say, 'We found our fathers doing it, and Allāh has commanded us to do it.' Say, 'Indeed, Allāh does not command immorality. Do you say about Allāh that which you do not know? * Say, 'My Lord has commanded justice, and that you maintain your faces at every place of worship'" to His saying: "And eat and drink, but do not be excessive. Indeed, He does not like those who commit excess. * Say, 'Who has forbidden the adornment of Allāh which He has produced for His servants and the good things of provision?'" to His saying: "Say, 'My Lord has only forbidden immoralities, what is apparent of them and what is concealed, and sin and oppression without right, and that you associate with Allāh that for which He has not sent down authority, and that you say about Allāh that which you do not know.'" And these people may call what they have innovated of bidʿah as reality, just as they call what they witness of predestination as reality, and the path of reality according to them is the conduct that is not bound by the commands and prohibitions of the Lawgiver, but by what