Pre-Destination and The Responsibility of Man (3/3)
Suhaib Hasan
I would like to add that what has so far been said has been agreed upon and adopted by us, the Ahlus Sunnah wal Jama’ah, as our belief. Man does what he wants, but his will follows that of Allah. We also believe that Allah’s will does not act on its own but is strongly linked to His Wisdom, one of His attributes. As a Wise and Just ruler, He decrees guidance for the person who wants guidance and truth, who wishes to be close to Allah, and who aims to follow the Straight Path. For anyone who does not want the truth, Allah decrees error and misguidance; were Islam to be presented to him, his heart would constrict as if he was ascending to the sky (see Surah Al-An'am, 6:125). Allah’s Wisdom declines to offer guidance to such a person unless the person changes his attitude.
The Ahlus Sunnah wal Jama’ah say that Allah’s decree and pre-destination has four components. The first is Knowledge: Man must believe with total certainty that Allah has knowledge of everything; He knows the minute as well as the general details of all that happens, whether it is of His own doing or of His creatures.
The second constituent of Qadar is Writing. Allah has written all His knowledge of the fate of His creatures in the Preserved Tablet, as He tells us in the Qur’an:
“Know you not that Allah knows all that is in heaven and on earth? Indeed it is (all) in the Book (Al-Lauh Al-Mahfuz), and that is easy for Allah.” (Surah Al-Hajj, 22:70)
In one Hadith, the Prophet (peace be upon him) is reported to have said:
“Indeed the first thing that Allah created was the pen. He said, ‘Write!’ It said, ‘What should I write?’ Allah said, ‘Write down everything that is going to happen.’ So at that moment flowed everything that would happen until the Day of Judgement.” At this the Prophet was asked whether the actions we do are new actions or are actions that have been decreed already. He replied:
“They are already decreed.” The Companions said: “O Prophet of Allah! Should we then not do and just depend?” He said: “Do, and everything that was created for you will be made easy.” The Prophet added: “Do, O my brother, do and what was created for you will be facilitated for you.” Then followed the words of the Almighty:
“As for him who gives (in charity) and keeps his duty to Allah and fears Him, and believes in the best, We will make smooth for him the path of ease (goodness). But he who is greedy miser and thinks himself self-sufficient, and gives lie to the best, We will make smooth for him the path for evil.” (Surah Al-Lail, 92:5-10)
The third component of Qadar is that of Will. Allah wills the presence or absence of everything in the heavens and in the earth. Nothing can exist without His Will. This is reiterated in the Qur’an:
“To whomever among you wills to go straight. But you shall not will except as Allah, the Lord of the Worlds, wills.” Surah At-Takwir, (81:28, 29)
“If your Lord had so willed, they would not have done it.” (Surah Al-An'am, 6:112)
“If Allah had willed, they would not have fought each other; but Allah does what He likes.” (Surah Al-Baqarah, 2:253)
Allah also relates that His actions always yield to His own Will:
“And if We had willed, surely We would have given every person his guidance.” (Surah As-Sajdah, 32: 13)
“And if your Lord had so willed, He could surely have made mankind one nation.” (Surah Hud, 11:118)
Thus, true faith is not complete unless we believe that Allah’s Will is total and all-embracing.
The fourth component of Qadar is Creation. This means that we believe that Allah is the Creator of everything and anything, even Death, although it is the absence of Life. The Qur’an says:
“He Who has created death and life, that He may test you which of you is best in deed.” (Surah Al-Mulk, 67:2)
The skies, the mountains, the winds, the vapours, the growth of living organisms, the droughts — all are the creation of Allah.
A difficulty arises: how can we claim that our actions and words are products of our own free will when they are in fact creations of Allah? The answer is that our actions and utterances are the result of our ability and desire to do them. Since Allah alone is the one who created us and gave us the ability and the will to distinguish, choose, and act, our actions are His creations; He created the cause which generates the result, so He is the creator of the result as well as of the cause. But, this does in no way belittle our choice and will. For example, fire burns. The One who gave this power to fire is Allah, as fire on its own does not have the capability to burn. We see an instance of this in the Qur’an:
“We (Allah) said: “O fire! be you cool, and safety for Ibrahim!”” (Surah Al-Anbiya’, 21:69)
Thus the fire did not burn Ibrahim in this case. It is Allah who gives fire the power to burn, just as He gives Man the power to choose and act according to his decision.
Finally, I would like to say that were it not for the increasing number of questions that have been raised about this issue and the ensuing controversy, we would not have entered into the debate. However, we felt there was a need for clarification and so spoke out.
I ask Allah Almighty to facilitate the good actions that have been decreed for His pious creatures and to record for us and for them righteousness in this world and in the next. All Praise is due to the Lord of the Universe. May the peace and blessings of Allah be upon our Prophet Muhammad, on his family and on all his Companions.