And we establish the principle according to one who holds this belief, to make clear to him the invalidity of the view held by those who believe in justice among the People of the Exoteric [Ahl al-Zahir], and discussed it:

Is it permissible for the Just One to punish before the act or after the act?

If he says: "Before the act," then this is injustice. And if he says: "After the act," then it is said to him: What is the sin of the child that he emerges from his mother's womb blind, or emerges chronically ill or paralyzed? And what did he deserve for that, such that He compensates him on the Day of Resurrection?

For this is injustice itself, because compensation is through mutual consent, yet this [child] is forced into blindness.

So, is it permissible in the judgment of justice that the Sultan cuts off your hand without a sin, and compensates you for it with a thousand dinars while you are averse to what he did to you?

This is injustice itself—Exalted is Allah above that, a great Exaltation.