Kasb (acquisition) and capacity
الكسب والاستطاعة
al-Tahawi's statement that the acts of servants are by God's creation and the servants' acquisition, and his distinction of two kinds of capacity: the one that comes with the act, and capacity in health and means which precedes it.
At a glance
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- Abbasid Fragmentation
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Summary
"The deeds of the servants are God's creation and the servants' acquisition (kasb)" 1.
The capacity
Al-Tahawi distinguishes two kinds: "the capacity by which the deed is obligatory — like the tawfiq which the creature may not be described by — accompanies the deed", versus "the capacity of health, scope, ability and soundness of instruments — which precedes the deed, and by it obligation attaches" 2 1 (al-Baqara 286).
The obligation
"God has not obliged them except what they can bear, and they can bear only what He has obliged them" — this, for him, explains "there is no power nor strength save in God" 1.
In Ibn Qudama al-Maqdisi's Lum'at al-I'tiqad
Ibn Qudama argues from the verse "Today every soul is requited for what it has earned" (Ghafir 17) that "the servant has a deed and an acquisition, requited for its good with reward and its evil with punishment — occurring by God's decree and determination" 3. Before that he says God commands and forbids only one able to do and leave, and that He compelled no one 4. He does not divide capacity as al-Tahawi does.
In Ibn Taymiyya's al-'Aqida al-Wasitiyya
Ibn Taymiyya does not use the word "kasb" here; he says: "The servants act in truth, and God is the creator of their deeds. The servant is the believer and the unbeliever, the righteous and the wicked, the pray-er and the faster. The servants have power over their deeds and have will, and God is their creator and the creator of their power and their will" 5.
In al-Ash'ari's Maqalat al-Islamiyyin
In "the account of the sum of the saying of the people of hadith and sunna" in Maqalat al-Islamiyyin, Abu al-Hasan al-Ash'ari presents what the people of hadith and sunna hold, ending: "And in all we have mentioned of their saying we speak, and to it we go" 6. He relates there that they "affirmed there is no creator but God, that God creates the servants' evil deeds, that God creates the servants' deeds, and that the servants cannot create anything of them" 7; that no one can do a thing before he does it, nor depart from God's knowledge 7. He does not use the word "kasb" here.
What is not covered here
This entry presents the positions of the 'Aqida al-Tahawiyya, Ibn Qudama's Lum'at al-I'tiqad, Ibn Taymiyya's al-Wasitiyya, and what al-Ash'ari related in Maqalat al-Islamiyyin of the people of hadith and sunna and declared his own — each attributed to its book. The sayings of the Maturidis and the remaining Sunni and non-Sunni schools from their own books have not yet been added; the entry needs specialist review before promotion.
See also the decree.
Opinions on the question
The question: How is the servant's act attributed to God and to the servant, and what is capacity?
First opinion · Sunni tradition (the museum's frame) · Sunni (Hanafi)Main reference
The acts of servants are by God's creation and their acquisition, and capacity is of two kinds
Held by: Abu Ja'far al-Tahawial-Aqida al-Tahawiyya (the Tahawi creed)
Basis: al-Aqida al-Tahawiyya, Dar Ibn Hazm 1995 articles 110 and 111, pp. 26 and 27
More opinions (3)
Sunni tradition (the museum's frame) · Sunni (Hanbali)Main reference
The servant has an act and an acquisition for which he is recompensed, and it happens by God's decree
Held by: Ibn Qudama al-MaqdisiLum'at al-I'tiqad
Basis: Lum'at al-I'tiqad, Ibn Qudama al-Maqdisi (al-Maktab al-Islami) pp. 26 and 27
Sunni tradition (the museum's frame) · Sunni (Hanbali)Main reference
The servants truly act, and God is the creator of their acts, power and will
Held by: Ibn Taymiyyaal-Aqida al-Wasitiyya
Basis: al-Aqida al-Wasitiyya, Ibn Taymiyya (al-Matba'a al-Salafiyya) p. 22
Sunni tradition (the museum's frame) · Sunni (Ash'ari)Main reference
The acts of the servants are created by God and the servants cannot create any of them
Held by: Abu al-Hasan al-Ash'ariMaqalat al-Islamiyyin wa-Ikhtilaf al-Musallin
Basis: Maqalat al-Islamiyyin, al-Ash'ari (ed. Muhammad Muhyi al-Din Abd al-Hamid) p. 346
People and things also explored
The people of the qibla and not declaring takfir for sinThe hereafter: the grave, resurrection and reckoningThe ten promised ParadiseSigns of the HourBid'a (religious innovation)Love of the Companions and how to speak of them (in the Tahawi creed)The sanctity of a Muslim's bloodIhsan (excellence in worship)
Sources
- al-Aqida al-Tahawiyya, Dar Ibn Hazm 1995, p. 27
- al-Aqida al-Tahawiyya, Dar Ibn Hazm 1995, p. 26
- Lum'at al-I'tiqad, Ibn Qudama al-Maqdisi (al-Maktab al-Islami), p. 27
- Lum'at al-I'tiqad, Ibn Qudama al-Maqdisi (al-Maktab al-Islami), p. 26
- al-Aqida al-Wasitiyya, Ibn Taymiyya (al-Matba'a al-Salafiyya), p. 22
- Maqalat al-Islamiyyin, al-Ash'ari (ed. Muhammad Muhyi al-Din Abd al-Hamid), p. 350
- Maqalat al-Islamiyyin, al-Ash'ari (ed. Muhammad Muhyi al-Din Abd al-Hamid), p. 346
Cite this page
islam.museum contributors. “Kasb (acquisition) and capacity”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/concept/kasb/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Accessed 2026-10-12.