151. Two main groups who erred in Qadaa and Qadr

There were two Schools of thoughts among Ancient Greek (Pagans):

1. Epicureans: Free will. Hedonism – Seek what’s pleasurable in life by any means
2. Stoics: No free will – predetermined. You are a puppet on the string

Muslims went astray (i.e. got wrong ideas about destiny) after the Greek literatures were translated. Deviants among Muslims

A) The Jabrites (Jabariyyah) who claimed that the creature is forced to do its acts without any choice on its part. They are refuted by two points:

• Allah attributed human acts to them and made them earning for which they are rewarded or punished. If they were forced to do them, the attribution of the acts to them would not be correct and punishment for them would be oppression. He says

“Today every soul will be rewarded for what they earned.” (Qur’an Chapter Ghaafir 40: 17)

• Everyone knows the difference between an act of choice and a forced act in reality and in judgment. So if someone transgressed against another and claimed that he was forced to do it by Allah’s Qadaa and Qadr it would be considered stupidity

Before doing an act, the sinful person does not know what is destined for him and it is within his ability to do or not do it. So how can he take a wrong path and defend his action with the unknown destiny. Is it not more suitable for him to take the correct path and say: This is what was destined for me?

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Satan has no control over us. We can’t say “Shaytan forced me to do evil deeds”. Neither Allah nor Shaitan forces people.

And Shaitan (Satan) will say when the matter has been decided: “Verily, Allah promised you a promise of truth. And I too promised you, but I betrayed you. I had no authority over you except that I called you, so you responded to me. So blame me not, but blame yourselves… [Surah Ibrahim 14:22]

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B) The Qadrites (Qadariyyah) who claim that the creature is independent in its actions and that Allah has no will or power or creation in it. Their claim is also refuted by two points:

• Their claim contradicts Allah’s statements:

“Allah is the creator of everything.” (Surah az-Zumar 39:62)

“And Allah created you and what you do.” (Surah as-Saaffaat 37: 96)

• Allah is the owner of the heavens and earth.How is it possible that there be in His dominion things which are not dependent on His will and creation?

(Sharh Lum’atul-I’tiqaad)

Correct Faith: Humans freely choose, and Allah knows already what humans will choose. His knowledge of their choice didn’t make them to opt for that choice. Relative to Allah, the choices are known. Relative to us, the choices aren’t known until the situation occurs. Arguing / reflecting beyond this takes us to a situation with no answers.

Addendum: One brother requested more info on “Humans freely choose and Allah knows already what humans will choose”. How is that Allah knows what a person would do (in future), and yet Allah is not forcing that person?.

The answer: Allah is the Creator of everything, including time. He knows everything that happened everywhere, is happening and will happen. We only know a limited past events; we can focus only on a few things that are happening. And, we don’t know future. So, we can’t apply human examples to Allah.

But, at human level we can give a few examples where we may guess certain things in future, yet we are not forcing them. A simple one: We know (and say) that the Sun will set in the West. Do we force it to set in the West? No. A teacher may say, based on his assessment, that certain students will fail in the exams. The teacher’s comment didn’t force the students to fail. The students’ failure to study caused their failure in exams. (Again, Creator is not like Teacher)

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