conclusion that God will, therefore, forgive the sins of any one He pleases and accept him into favour. That is to
say, Muslims in general fancy that God, paying no attention to the requirements of His own perfect justice, will, simply
through His mercy, pardon one man's sins and bestow upon him faith, and then accept him unto salvation, while upon
another He will have no mercy, but will render him destitute of faith, and will on that account punish him in hell,
having predestinated him to eternal destruction. But this view is utterly untenable, since it sets God's holiness in
opposition to His justice and makes His mercy superior to the latter to such a degree that, in some cases, it entirely
overthrows and does away with it. But, since in God's nature and attributes, there can be no imperfection or defect, and
it is impossible that one of the divine attributes should be less than or inferior to another (each of His attributes
being, like His nature, absolute and infinite), hence it is certain that God Most High never does anything contrary to
His own nature or to any of His perfect attributes, and that between these attributes there can be no contrariety or
opposition, nor can one of them overcome any other. Accordingly it is clear that God will not pass over the demands of
His justice in order to yield solely to mercy and pity and thus to forgive certain men's sins. On the contrary, in
pardoning He will completely satisfy the demands of justice. That is to say, He will
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