Free Choice

Concerning God, Shihab Hariwa would say, "He is necessary by His Essence;  He is not freely-choosing. If all the prophets had said that He is so, I would not accept it."
I would say, "I don't want that God. I want a God who acts by free choice. I seek taht god. The fire, without shame." I would tell him to destroy that God of whom he spoke. I would say, "Even if He did not act by free choice, in any case you act by free choice, destroy that one. The least of the servants upon whom He has cast His ray acts by free choice; he is not made helpless by himself.
"Every moment, He destroys a thousand worlds. Who is more helpless than someone who does something and is made helpless by that act, not being able to change it. And then taht thing itself says that he has no free choice, he calls Him without free choice. Pharaoh has turned your stomach sour."
If the whole world wre to accept that from Shihab, I wouldn't accept it.

Shams

"Me & Rumi" William C. Chittick - Teachers and Shaykhs I Have Met