That the actions of the servants, their good and evil, are from themselves, not from Allah:
The servant is free in his actions, bringing them about however he wishes according to his will and the motive of his own self. This is the doctrine of the Zaydiyyah, the Mu’tazila, and others.
1 The doctrine of compulsion clashes with what every rational person finds within himself and perceives by the necessity of his intellect in his dispositions and actions, which he brings about according to his will and choice, without any awareness of any motive other than his will and choice. And the strongest proofs absolutely are those attained through inner awareness (conscience), for the intellect apprehends that directly without the mediation of thought or reflection.
The theologians express such knowledge as necessary knowledge, which is that which occurs without the mediation of thought or reflection, such as a person’s knowledge that he is hungry, thirsty, healthy, ill, fearful or secure, blind or seeing, compelled or choosing, and so forth.
From here, the people of compulsion are unable to deny the difference between the movement of one who trembles due to fever, and the movement of one who trembles by his own choice without illness.
2 It is known beyond doubt that the actions of every rational person issue from him according to his will and aversion. This is unlike tallness and shortness, and the whiteness or blackness of color, for these do not depend upon the servant’s will and choice.
3 From the Qur’an is His saying, Exalted is He: “Do whatever you wish” [Fuṣṣilat: 40]. Thus, by this verse Allah, Exalted is He, indicated that actions issue from the servants and that they issue from their will. And the like of this is abundant in the Qur’an, for it is filled with expressions such as: you do, you make, you act.
4 If the matter were as the determinists say, it would necessitate that the Creator, Mighty and Majestic, be called a disbeliever, a liar, an oppressor, a thief, and so forth because He, Glorified is He, would then be the One who did that, willed it, and desired it, not the servant, who would be declared free of it and innocent thereof. “May Allah destroy them; how are they deluded?” [al Tawbah].
Look to where caprice has taken them, and to what extent misguidance and wretchedness have carried them?! They ascribe the committing of reprehensible acts and enormities to Allah, Exalted is He, and absolve themselves of committing them. “Glory be to Him and Exalted is He far above what they say, with great exaltation” [al Isrāʾ].
5 The doctrine of the determinists also entails the invalidation of commands and prohibitions, the sending of messengers, and the revelation of books because commanding one who is incapable of acting or refraining is reprehensible.
In sum, this doctrine is a mythical, false doctrine. Sound innate disposition turns away from it; conscience, necessity, and inner awareness belie it; the texts of the Qur’an and the Sunnah refute it; justice and wisdom disavow it. Refuting it requires nothing more than knowing it.