the following is quoted from the 26th Word (on Divine Determing or Fate) from the Risale-i Nur Collection, a Qur'anic commentary by the famous Turkish scholar Said Nursi:
"Yes, as the Qur’an states, man is totally responsible for his evils, for it is he who wants the evils. Since evils are destructive, man may perpetrate much destruction with a single evil act, like burning down a house with one match, and he becomes deserving of an awesome punishment."
"As for evils, it is man’s soul that wants them, either through capacity or through choice, – like in the white and beautiful light of the sun some substances become black and putrefy, and the blackness is related to their capacity – however, it is Almighty God Who creates the evils through a Divine law which comprises numerous benefits. That is to say, the cause and the request are from the soul, so that it is the soul which is responsible, while it is Almighty God Who creates the evils and brings them into existence, and since they have other results and fruits which are good, they are good. "
"It is for the above reason that the ‘acquisition’ (kasb) of evil, that is, the desire for evil, is evil, but the creation of evil is not evil. A lazy man who receives damage from rain, which comprises many instances of good, may not say that the rain is not mercy. Yes, together with a minor evil in its creation are numerous instances of good. To abandon that good for a minor evil becomes a greater evil. Therefore, a minor evil becomes like good. There is no evil or ugliness in Divine creation. They rather pertain to His servant’s wish and to his capacity."
"Furthermore, Divine Determining is both exempt from evil and ugliness with regard to results and fruits, and free from tyranny and ugliness with respect to reason and cause. Because Divine Determining looks to the true causes and acts justly. "
we will try to understand your friend's situation a bit more from this example:
For example, if a patient wants a painkiller pill from the doctor, but the doctor says to him, "this pill that you want is not good for you, you will get harm from it." but if the patient ignores the warning, and disobeys the doctor's advice and goes ahead somehow to take that pill, and as a result gets hurt. So it is not the fault of the doctor, but the fault lies with the patient's choice in spite of warning from the doctor.
Man commits sins and vices in spite of hearing repeated warnings from the Qur'an and hadiths and Islamic writings, the choice lies with the person, but the creation of the actions is with God, because he control all the limbs, organs, bodies, the workings of the brains, the results of the actions.
to look at it a bit further, if without God placing the sun and the earth in the right places, man would not even be able to live, let alone do any actions or make any choices. in other words, God controls everything, knows everything, and creates everything. but He leaves that weak inclination of man (known as the free will) alone, so the person will be responsible for his/her actions.
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Hope this is helpful.
salam to you all.