Qaza wa Qadr: Predestination and Free Will
By
Waheed Ahmed, New Age Islam
25 August
2022
Allah
Has Not Determined That You Would Do Bad Things, But He Is Aware Of What You
Will Do, Which Is A Result Of The Behavioural Ingredients Present At
Initiation. He Is Omniscient, Which Means That The Past, The Present And The
Future All Lie On The Same Page In His Purview.
----
Khutba (Qaza wa Qadr) 3-20-2009
Hamd u
Sana
I want to
begin my Khutba with two examples:
Example 1: There is a death in the family. A baby or a child dies
leaving his/her grieving parents and perhaps ailing grandparents behind. No one
understands why the young should be taken away, even before they began their
lives and the old are left on their prolonged troublesome journey.
Example 2: You are driving home from a day’s work. In a spur of a
moment, you make a mistake. There is a near accident, which could have been
very serious, but you are saved by the skin of your teeth. You know that in
thousands of similar cases deaths have occurred, but you are saved, and you
survived to live another day. Why? Why did you live, while others had perished
under similar circumstances? Nobody knows and nobody shall ever know. The
question defies logic. No science can give a logical answer to this question.
For
thousands of years wise men, philosophers, logicians and scientists have
pondered over these questions. No one has yet come up with an answer. There is
a Hadith pertinent to the first example I gave, which is mentioned in Bukhari,
narrated by Abu Huraira:
“--- The
people said ‘Oh Allah’s Apostle! What do you think about those who die young?’
The Prophet said: Allah knows what they would have done.”
This is a
domain in which man has no knowledge nor any power. Allah’s Will is absolute
and unalterable.
Innallaha
Ala Kulli Shayin Qadeer. (Indeed, Allah Has Power Over Everything.)
The above
verse occurs repeatedly in the Quran and: Wallahu Bi Kulli Shayin Aleem.
(And Allah has knowledge about everything.)
There is a
subject called Qaza wa Qadr in Islamic sciences, which is the topic of
my Khutba today. The other day, somebody asked me a question about
Predestination and Free Will --- that if someone’s fate was already decided,
whether he was going to be a good person or a bad one and whether he was going
to heaven or hell, then what was the need for guidance, reformers and even
religions? The debate about Predestination and Free Will has raged for
centuries in most religions. In Christianity St. Augustine and John Calvin were
strong proponents of Predestination and Pelagius was an advocate of Free Will.
In Islam,
the very first philosophical schism occurred on this question, between the
Mu’tazilites and the Asharaites. The former believed in Free Will as Khalifa
Al-Mamun made it the doctrine of the state, whereas the latter strongly
countered this movement. The Mu’tazilites’ argument did not hold sway in the
Sunni mind for long. The reason, as I have stated earlier, was belief in
Allah’s Qudrah --- that Allah knows what is obvious and what is hidden. Yalamu
Ma Baina Aidihim Wa Ma Khalfihim Wa La Yuhitoona Bi Shayin Min Ilmihi Illa Bi
Ma Sha’ (He knows what is before or after and behind them and nor shall
they circumvent His Will.) Allah’s Will (the word Sha’) is the corner stone of
the Aqeedah in Islam. Therefore, insha-Allah and masha-Allah are the most
frequently spoken words by Muslims. Even the Quran emphasizes the importance of
saying insha-Allah. In Surah Al-Kahaf, Allah says: Wa La Taqulanna
Lishayin Inni Faelun Dhalika Ghadan Illa An Yasah-Allahu. (Do not say that
I shall do this thing tomorrow. Say if Allah wills.)
There are
various stories in scriptures about prophets, who made promises but omitted to
say insha-Allah. Allah admonished them, by not making their promises fulfilled.
There was this story about Prophet Suleiman (A). He had many wives and he
cohabited with them saying that each wife would bear him a son but forgot to
say insha-Allah. There was one issue as the result of that union and that too
was a still-born son.
To
illustrate the point of Qadr further, let me quote another Hadith
narrated by Anas bin Malik and recorded in Bukhari: The Prophet said: “Allah
put an angel in charge of the uterus and the angel says: ‘Oh Lord, it is semen!
Oh Lord, it is now a clot! Oh Lord, it is now a piece of flesh and then, if
Allah wishes to complete the creation, the angel asks: Oh Lord, will it be a
male or a female? A wretched or a blessed? How much will his provision be? So,
all this is written while the creature is still in the mother’s womb.” This
Hadith strengthened the arguments of the Asharaites in favour of
Predestination.
All these
arguments are relevant to the concept of Qada and Qadr in Islam. Qadr literally
means measure or worth, by implication, measuring out a portion of fate for
every individual. This measure is then written in in Al-Lauh-Al-Mahfooz
(the preserved tablet), even before the individual comes into being.
Then the
question comes in, whether man has any Free Will to change the condition that
surrounds him, to alter the state of his being? If that is not to be the case,
then humanity would come to a standstill. A mood of fatalism would set in and
everything in our daily life would be left to chance.
Man’s Free
Will is the engine that runs our societies and our civilizations. Man can alter
things, change the nature, dig out mountains, change the path of rivers, invent
flying machines, even though he himself has no wings, builds boats by the order
of Allah as Prophet Noah built his Arc to navigate in the deluge, to save
Allah’s creatures from extinction. Allah gave man the power of observation and
deduction, to derive the laws of physics, intellect in different measures
(Qadr), to different scientists and scholars, who have enabled us to widen our
perception of the cosmos to see far into the universe and deep into the heart
of the matter, the nuclei and the elementary particles. How? Allah says in the
Quran: “Ya Masharal Jinni Wa Alinsi In-Istatatum An Tanfudhu Min Aqtari
Samawati Wa Al-Ardi Fa Anfudhu. La Tanfudhuna Illa Bi Sultan.” (Oh, company of jinn and mankind, if you can
pass beyond the regions of the heavens and the earth, then pass. You will not
be able to pass except by authority. Surah Al-Rahman). This verse has clearly
two elements: authorization and limitation. Allah has authorized man to extend
his reach depending upon Allah’s Will. We have witnessed this in the progress
of science, which is essentially incremental.
Man has
made tremendous advances in medicine to improve the health of human beings and
prolong lives. He has been successful in eradicating many diseases and has
caused the death rate to fall. --- Update: And yet recently, a pandemic did
remind us of the principle of authorization and limitation, bringing the
civilization to a standstill---.
How would
all this progress be possible, if man did not have any Free Will and was not
empowered with the prowess that God had decided to share with him? If the fate
of each man and the nation had already been decided, then what would be the
role of religion in this world? Are the teachings and preaching of the prophets
just a stage act and is of no consequence for the future of humanity? The
answer is obvious. No, the fate of a nation is not predetermined. Allah has
said in the Quran: Inna-Allaha La Yughayyaru Ma Bi Qaumin Hatta Yughayyiru
Ma Bi Anfusihim. (Indeed, Allah does not change the fate of a nation, until
people change what is in them.)
If the
destiny of this world is based on lofty ideals, then humans are the instruments
of that change. It is clear; what is written in Lauh-Al-Mahfooz
(preserved tablet) is not eternal. Allah will change the script, if man makes
an effort. In other words, man has a part to play in creating his own tablet, writing
his own fate on it. Allah is rewriting man’s destiny every moment of time.
Genes are being altered by what man does. The result is being written in his
DNA and is being transferred to his offspring.
Life is
about making choices all the time, choice between getting up and lying in bed,
choice between working and not working, choice between pulling the trigger and
not pulling the trigger, choice between becoming a Muslim and not becoming a
Muslim and choice between Halal and Haram. These choices affect your lives,
your children’s lives and the health of the society. In fact, the essence of
religion is about making moral choices.
One might
think that this idea of free choice, impacting the fate of individuals and
societies might conflict with the concept of Qaza wa Qadr. Not so. For
Muslims Predestination and Free Will are two sides of the same coin. Allah’s
Will supersedes but man’s Free Will proceeds subserviently in his domain,
measured out to him by Qadr.
There are
certain things in which man has no authority whatsoever, like in the matters of
life and death that manifests in the examples I gave in the beginning of my Khutba.
Also, man cannot interfere in celestial functions. He cannot alter the laws of
physics. He can only use them to his advantage. Allah made man his vicegerent
on earth having imparted to him a piece of divine intellect. It was on that
piece that the history of civilization: past, present and future was written.
Although Allah’s domain pre-existed, its existential consciousness unfolded
only with the advent of man.
At this
point let me bring in another aspect of Qaza and Qadr, the difference between
predetermination and prior knowledge. Allah has not determined that you would
do bad things, but he is aware of what you will do, which is a result of the
behavioural ingredients present at initiation. He is Omniscient, which means
that the past, the present and the future all lie on the same page in His
purview. He is also Omnipotent, who can wipe out the past, intercede in the
present and put you on a different pathway to the future that he chooses.
URL: https://newageislam.com/islamic-ideology/qada-qadr-predestination-will/d/127803
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