Al 'Arabi on freedom, from the Futuhât al-makkiyya

"In reality there is no existing entity that possesses freedom, since the correlations prevent that. The reality of freedom is found only in the fact that the Essence is "Independent of the worlds," even though the cosmos becomes manifest from It and through It, not through anything else. Since the Essence is "Independent of the worlds," It is free, while the cosmos is poor and needy toward It. The creatures of the cosmos have no freedom whatsoever. They are demanded by the Divinity through the property It has prescribed for them, properties without which the Divinity would have no manifestation; hence correlations become manifest. Therefore the situation is dependent from two sides, each side depending upon the other. So it is impossible for freedom to subsist in either of the correlatives."

 The Sufi Path of Knowledge, William Chittick, State University of New York press, 1989, pages 60 – 61