Jabr (compulsion) applies only between two mutually exclusive things. For example, if a superior commands and the subordinate does not obey, the superior compels him to obedience. The meaning of jabr is as follows: A person dislikes a certain action. Therefore, he does not wish to do it and prefers another action. However, the mujbir (the one who compels) forces this person to perform the action he does not want, rather than the one he desires. If it were not for the mujbir's compulsion, that person would do what he ought to do and refrain from what he ought not to do.
We do not observe such compulsion in people's acquisition of iman (faith), kufr (disbelief), worship, and sin. On the contrary, the mu'min (believer) has chosen iman, loved it, seen it as beautiful, desired it, and preferred it over its opposites; he has hated kufr, abhorred it, found it ugly, not desired it, and preferred its opposite. Allah has created in the mu'min the qualities of choosing, desiring, and seeing iman as beautiful, as well as hating, abhorring, and disliking kufr. (Ta'arruf, 26)
According to the verifiers, jabr is invalid because it contradicts the soundness of the servant's action. Jabr is to ascribe an act to the possible (mumkin) when the non-performance of the possible is present. In this ḥāl (spiritual state), inanimate objects are not compelled to anything, for lacking intellect, it is inconceivable for them to perform an act. Thus, the possible is also not compelled, for although effects appear from it, since it lacks a verifying intellect, it cannot be conceived as performing an act. (Futūḥāt, 81)
Jabr negates kasb (acquisition) and affirms khalq (creation) for the servant. (According to this view) the servant is like a corpse in the hands of the washer, under the rule of destiny. He has neither knowledge, nor choice, nor power of his own. This is the view of the Jabriyya, which does not accept necessity and contradicts known evidences. As for their denial of necessity: a person distinguishes by conscience between what is compelled and what is voluntary. One who acts by choice is different from one who acts involuntarily. They did not accept the necessity of conscience with their view. Their opposition to the transmitted sources (sam'iyyāt) is as follows: they took the verses (āyāt) related to creation and ignored the verses related to acquisition and the attributes Allah has bestowed upon His servants. They equated drinking wine with renting it. However, these two matters are legally distinct. Even in terms of sensation and conscience, there is a difference between them. (Rawḍa, 206)
jabrāʾil (J-3! yz) Our discussion on the breathing of the spirit has come full circle, and the shaykh indicated as follows: Jibril (Gabriel) is derived from Rūḥ al-Qudus (the Holy Spirit). That is, the spirits of animals and plants are particles of light that emerge from the Active Intellect.
When asked about the connection between these, he replied: Everything that moves in every part of the lower world (dunyā) is derived from the wing of Jibril.
When the shaykh was asked how this order is, he said: Know that the Real (al-Ḥaqq), Glorified and Exalted is He, has many great kalima (words). Luminosity arises from His words, that is, from the alchemical lights of His Noble Face. These words are above one another... By words, he means intellects. That is, they are the essences of intellects, which are lights overflowing from the Necessary Existent (Wājib al-Wujūd, i.e., Allah). Some of these are superior to others in degree, rank, and honor.
He sends down from the Real a kalima for which there is none greater. The nisba (relation) of that word, in comparison to other words, is according to its light and manifestation, just as the sun is to the other planets. This meaning is expressed in the report from the Messenger of God (peace be upon him): If the face of the sun were manifest, there would exist something worshipped besides Allah. From the light of this word, another word emerges. The First Intellect is responsible for the causation of the Second Intellect, the Second for the Third, and so on, until it reaches perfection (kamāl) at the number ten. For Allah said in the verse: "They are ten in all" (al-Baqara 2:196).
This One after the One continues in this way until the words are completed. The last of these words is Jibril; the spirits of the sons of Adam emerge from this final word. (Jibrāʾil, 151)
Know that Jibril has two wings. One is on his right and is pure light. This wing, by its mujarrad (abstract) existence, is connected to the Real, Exalted is He. On his left wing, there is a long black part resembling the dark spot on the face of the moon or the colors on the leg of a peacock. This aspect, by its governance over nonexistence in the realm of possibility, possesses existence. If you look at Jibril's existence as possessed by the Real, he is characterized by the existence of wujūd (existence). If you look at him in terms of what his own essence deserves, then he is characterized by nonexistence (ʿadam). Thus, these two meanings are represented in Jibril's two wings. His right wing expresses his aspect ascribed to the Real, and his left wing expresses the aspect his own essence deserves. (Jibrāʾil, 152)