Aḥmad bin Yaḥyā bin Thaʿlab said: “The Qadariyyah are those who claim that they are able [to act outside of Allāh’s will and power], and we say, ‘We are not able [to act] except through the power of Allāh, the aid of Allāh and the granting of success by Allāh. If he does not do that for us, we are not able.’ So how can the one who claims he is not able [to act] be a Qadarī? This is an impossible, an opposite.” He said: “I do not know of an ʿArab Qadarī.” It was said to him: “The [doctrine of negating al-Qadar] occurs in the hearts of the Arabs?” He said: “Refuge is from Allāh, there is not among the Arabs except the affimer of al-Qadar, its good and its evil, both the people of Jāhiliyyah and Islām, and that is found clearly and plentiful in their speech and their poetry.”