"It is necessary to confess that good and evil take place by the predestination and predetermination of God, that all that has been and all that will be was decreed in eternity, and written on the _preserved table_;[167] that the faith of the believer, the piety of the pious and good actions are foreseen, willed, predestinated, decreed by the writing on the _preserved table_, produced and approved by God; that the unbelief of the unbeliever, the impiety of the impious and bad actions come to pass with the fore-knowledge, will, predestination and decree of God, but not with His satisfaction and approval. Should any ask why God willeth and produceth evil, we can only reply that He may have wise ends in view which we cannot comprehend." Another confession of faith has:-- "Whoever shall say, that God is not delighted with virtue and faith, and is not wroth with vice and infidelity, or that God has decreed good and evil with equal complacency is an infidel." There are three well-defined schools of thought on the subject:-- First.--The Jabrians, so called from the word "_jabr_" compulsion, deny all free agency in man and say that man is necessarily constrained by the force of God's eternal and immutable decree to act as he does.[168] They hold that as {174} God is the absolute Lord, He can, if He so wills, admit all men into Paradise, or cast all into hell. This sect is one of the branches of the Ash'arians with whom on most points they agree. Secondly.--The Qadrians, who deny _Al-Qadr_, or God's absolute decree, say that evil and injustice ought not to be attributed to God but to man, who is altogether a free agent. God has given him the power to do or not to do an act. This sect is generally considered to be a branch of the Mutazilite body, though in reality it existed before Wasil quitted the school of his master Hasan (Ante. p. 125). As Wasil, however, followed the opinions of Mabad-al-Johni, the leading Kadrian divine, the Mutazilites and Qadrians are practically one and the same. Thirdly.--The Ash'arians, of whom I have already given some account, maintain that God has one eternal will which is applied to whatsoever He willeth, both of His own actions and those of men; that He willeth that which He knoweth and what is written on the _preserved table_; that He willeth both good and evil. So far they agree with the Jabrians; but then they seem to allow some power to man, a tenet I have already explained when describing their idea of "Kasb" (Ante. p. 130). The orthodox, or Sunni belief is theoretically Ash'arian, but practically the Sunnis are confirmed Jabrians. The Mutazilite doctrines are looked upon as quite heretical. No subject has been more warmly discussed in Islam than that of predestination. The following abstract of some lengthy discussions will present the points of difference.