Is the servant an agent in reality, or is Allah the agent in reality and the servant an agent metaphorically, as stated in Al-Saadi's Tafsir and its commentary?

The doctrine of Ahl al-Sunnah wa al-Jama’ah (Sunnis) is that the servant is truly an agent by his power and will, and that Allah is the Creator of him, his power, and his will.

As for the statement that the servant is an agent metaphorically, it is false and contradicts the Qur’an and Sunnah, because it necessitates corrupt consequences, including:

1. That the true agent of all actions is Allah, which would necessitate that the one who prays and the one who commits adultery is Allah – Exalted be Allah far above that. 2. That punishing the servant for sins would be injustice, and rewarding him for good deeds would be futile. 3. That sending messengers and revealing books would become meaningless.

Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah clarified that servants are truly agents, and Allah is the Creator of their actions, their power, and their will. Shaykh Abd al-Rahman ibn Sa’di explains that the servant is the doer of his good and bad deeds by his choice, and this is established by reason, sense, Islamic law, and observation.

To understand how the actions of servants are created by Allah while they are truly agents, Shaykh Ibn Uthaymeen clarifies this from three perspectives:

1. That our actions are among our attributes, and we are created by Allah, and the Creator of the essence is the Creator of the attribute. 2. That a person's action results from will and power, and Allah is the One who created power and will in us. And the Creator of the complete cause (will and power) is the Creator of the effect (the action). 3. That Allah is the Creator of everything, and this includes the actions of servants.