← Claims & Evidence

If God misleads whom He wills, can a person be blamed?

The claim: "The Qur'an says 'God misleads whom He wills' (14:4). If He is the one who misleads, a person cannot be held to sin; this is both unjust and contradictory."

"Misleading" is not arbitrary but consequential

The Qur'an states for whom this misleading is:

  • By a parable God "misleads only the transgressors (fāsiqīn)." (2:26) — so it comes as a result of their choice, not arbitrarily.
  • The human's real choice is stressed: "Let whoever wills believe, and whoever wills disbelieve." (18:29)
  • "We showed him the way; he is either grateful or ungrateful." (76:3)
  • And God does not approve disbelief: "He does not approve of disbelief for His servants." (39:7) — i.e. He does not will/sanction misguidance.

An honest limit

The Qur'an holds both divine sovereignty (all by His will) and human responsibility (choice and reckoning). How to reconcile them — compulsion, full free will, or a middle — is a centuries-old debate in theology, read differently by different schools (Jabriyya, Muʿtazila, Ashʿarī/Māturīdī). We impose no single school; but reading the "misleads" verses together with the free-choice and "does-not-approve-disbelief" verses makes the "unjust/contradictory" charge no longer compulsory.

Source: Qur'anic verses (M. Okuyan meal). Presented soberly and respectfully, with a text/interpretation distinction.

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