Muslims believe that Allah ta’ala is Truthful, it is impossible that He could lie and falsehood is precluded from Divine Power. In the past, some Mútazili sub-sects argued against this and said that if Allah táala could not lie, then that would imply that His Power is limited. Sunni ulama refuted this incorrect notion and buried the Mutazili idea.
Two hundred years ago, Ismaýil Dihlawi, born in a family of famous Sunni scholars, rekindled this long forgotten Mútazili heresy. Deobandis consider Ismaýil as their leader and defend his heretical ideas and deem them sacrosanct as if it were Revelation. Thus, according to Deobandi elders, if the Lord Almighty did not have the power to lie, His power would become lesser than that of humans, because humans can lie. We seek Allah’s refuge from such an abominable belief. Nuh Keller, an American scholar, who presents himself as a Sufi, also joined this bandwagon of kadh’dhabiyyah sect, that believes that it is possible for Allah táala to lie.
Deobandis leave no stone unturned in their attempts to affirm this ugly belief – and their claim that it is an Ashári position! Unsurprisingly, they have no qualms in lying and false attribution of certain statements to Sunni scholars.
This paper was written to explain the background of this issue and to present citations from well-known books of Islamic creed to prove that it is absolutely impossible for falsehood to be included in Divine Power.
We ask Allah táala to forgive us and guide us on the right path.
NOTE: This was first released in 2010. A second edition with minor changes was released in 2011. A third revised edition is underway, and will be released soon in sha’Allah in 2023.
