What is Divine Preordainment?

The subject in question is known in Arabic as Qadr. Qadr is variously translated using such words as Divine Preordainment, Divine Decree, destiny, or fate. Basically, it is the reality that everything that occurs in Allāh’s universe was already decreed to occur by Him.

Everything?

Yes, everything! Everything big or small, open or hidden, good or bad. Everything in His creation happens according to His exact Will. Everything occurs by His Power according to His exact measure. The Scholar of Islām, Sheikh Ibn Taymiyyah, identified four aspects to belief in qadr.[1] They are:

1.     Belief in Allāh’s Prior Knowledge;

2.     Belief in the writing of the Book of Decrees;

3.     Belief in the ultimate Power and Will of Allāh;

4.     Belief in the creation of everything by Allāh.

Please summarise those phrases for me?

1. Belief in Allāh’s Prior Knowledge.  

This is the absolute belief by a Muslim that Allāh سبحانه وتعالىٰ has prior knowledge of everything. He knew beforehand everything that would happen to His creation. He knows what is manifest and open, as well as that which is hidden deep in the hearts. To quote Ibn Taymiyyah,  

“It is the belief that Almighty Allāh knew what His creations were going to do through His Prior Knowledge which is perpetually associated with Him. He knew all their circumstances of obedience and disobedience, of their allotment and their death.”

2. Belief in the writing of the Book of Decrees.

This is the absolute belief by a Muslim that everything that was to happen has already been written in a special book. The destiny of all Allāh’s creation was written down beforehand. This book is called Al Lauh Al Mahfūz (The Safe Tablet).[2]

3. Belief in the Ultimate Power and Will of Allāh.

This is the belief that nothing can exist or happen without Allāh’s Will. His Will is total and all encompassing. To quote Ibn Taymiyyah again, it is to believe that:

“Whatever Allāh Wills is going to be and whatever He does not wish, will never take place. It is to believe that no motion or stillness in heaven or earth can occur without the Almighty’s Will. There can be nothing in His Kingdom that He does not intend to be.”

4. Belief in the creation of everything by Allāh.

This is the absolute belief by a Muslim that Allāh created everything from nothing. This is connected with tawhīd ar rubūbiyah (Belief in the Oneness of Allāh’s Lordship). There is nothing, be it inanimate or living, that was not created by Allāh. He is the Creator of everything and, indeed, the only Creator of everything.

Does Allāh speak of these matters in the Qur’ān?

Yes. Here are a just a few examples of Allāh’s statements regarding His Prior Knowledge, His Power, His Will and the Book of Decrees,

۞ وَما مِن دابَّةٍ فِي الأَرضِ إِلّا عَلَى اللَّهِ رِزقُها وَيَعلَمُ مُستَقَرَّها وَمُستَودَعَها ۚ كُلٌّ في كِتابٍ مُبينٍ

And there is no creature on earth but that upon Allāh is its provision,[3] and He knows its place of dwelling and place of storage.[4] All is in a clear Register.

Sūrāh Hūd, 11:6

ما أَصابَ مِن مُصيبَةٍ فِي الأَرضِ وَلا في أَنفُسِكُم إِلّا في كِتابٍ مِن قَبلِ أَن نَبرَأَها ۚ إِنَّ ذٰلِكَ عَلَى اللَّهِ يَسيرٌ لِكَيلا تَأسَوا عَلىٰ ما فاتَكُم وَلا تَفرَحوا بِما آتاكُم ۗ وَاللَّهُ لا يُحِبُّ كُلَّ مُختالٍ فَخورٍ

No disaster strikes upon the earth or amongst yourselves except that it is in a Register before We bring it into being - Indeed, that, for Allāh, is easy – in order that you may not despair over what has eluded you and not exult (in pride) over what He has given you.

Sūrāh al Hadīd, 57:22,23

۞ وَعِندَهُ مَفاتِحُ الغَيبِ لا يَعلَمُها إِلّا هُوَ ۚ وَيَعلَمُ ما فِي البَرِّ وَالبَحرِ ۚ وَما تَسقُطُ مِن وَرَقَةٍ إِلّا يَعلَمُها وَلا حَبَّةٍ في ظُلُماتِ الأَرضِ وَلا رَطبٍ وَلا يابِسٍ إِلّا في كِتابٍ مُبينٍ

With Him are the keys of the Unseen; none knows them except Him. And He knows what is on the land and in the sea. Not a leaf falls but that He knows it. And no grain is there within the darkness of the earth and no moist or dry (thing) but that it is (written) in a clear record.

Sūrāh al An’ām, 6:59

اللَّهُ يَعلَمُ ما تَحمِلُ كُلُّ أُنثىٰ وَما تَغيضُ الأَرحامُ وَما تَزدادُ ۖ وَكُلُّ شَيءٍ عِندَهُ بِمِقدارٍ

And Allāh knows what every female carries[5] and what the wombs lose (prematurely) or exceed.[6] And everything with him is by due measure.

Sūrāh ar Ra’d, 13:8

هُوَ الَّذي يُصَوِّرُكُم فِي الأَرحامِ كَيفَ يَشاءُ ۚ لا إِلٰهَ إِلّا هُوَ العَزيزُ الحَكيمُ

And it is He Who forms you in the wombs however He wills. There is no deity except Him, the Exalted in Might, the Wise.

Sūrāh Āli ‘Imrān, 3:6

هُوَ الَّذي خَلَقَكُم مِن طينٍ ثُمَّ قَضىٰ أَجَلًا ۖ وَأَجَلٌ مُسَمًّى عِندَهُ ۖ ثُمَّ أَنتُم تَمتَرونَ

It is He Who created you from clay and then decreed a term[7] and a specified time (known) to Him;[8] and still you are in dispute.

Sūrāh al An‘ām, 6:2

وَما تَشاءونَ إِلّا أَن يَشاءَ اللَّهُ رَبُّ العالَمينَ

And you do not will except that Allāh wills - Lord of the worlds.

Sūrāh ath Takweer, 81:29

Is it a must to believe in qadr?  Yes, absolutely. Belief in qadr is one of the arkān al ēmān. You cannot claim to believe in the other parts of faith, but then decide not to believe in qadr. In a famous hadith where Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم was questioned by the angel Jibrīl عليه السلام, qadr is confirmed as being part of ēmān.

He (The inquirer, Gabriel) (again) asked: Messenger of Allāh, what is al-Ēmān (the faith)? He (the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم) said: That you affirm your faith in Allāh, His angels, His Books, His Meeting, His Apostles, and that you believe in Resurrection and that you believe in Qadr (Divine Decree) in all its entirety. He (the inquirer) said: You (have) told the truth.

Muslim on the authority of Abu Huraira رضي الله عنه

Although the precise knowledge of qadr is with Allāh, failure to simply believe in it, takes us outside Islām and into kufr.

Does belief in qadr mean that man has no power or will of his own to do anything?

This view was a held by the so-called Al Jabarīyah, a misguided sect in the past. They asserted men and women are all simply victims of fate, helpless and powerless, unable to determine anything in their lives, like a feather, buffeted in the wind. The consensus of the sensible and correct scholarly opinion is that this is wrong.

So then, to use a famous expression, are we the ‘masters of our own destiny?’

This view was held by another misguided group called Al Qadarīyah. They held that people are totally in control of everything in relation to their destiny, that they alone, without Allāh’s involvement, have the power and the freedom of choice to completely determine the outcome of their own affairs. As you can see, the Qadarīyah views lie at the opposite extreme of the views of the Jabarīyah. Their ideas are also agreed by the consensus of the scholars to be false and dangerous. Allāh can never be kept out of anything in relation to His creation.

So, then what is the correct position regarding man’s will?

Basically, man has power, will and freedom of choice. However, this power, will and freedom of choice is:

1.     an aspect of his creation, granted by Allāh;

2.     limited in its nature.

Limited?

Yes. Allāh has given man, power and will, but only in some things, not in others.

What kinds of things are ‘beyond’ the will of man?

The weather for example is beyond man’s control. The weather can act in ways that may easily inconvenience you, but over which you remain powerless to do anything about.

Like rain, I suppose? I left home yesterday, and it started to rain. I didn’t have an umbrella. I got totally drenched.

Yes. That rainfall was beyond your control, and without a good umbrella, your getting wet was inevitable. Your example is small one, but we all know that weather has the propensity to change people’s lives in more serious ways. For example, think about the farmer who, because of heavy rainfall and flooding, loses his entire harvest for the year. Or consider the fisherman’s wife whose husband’s boat fails to return from stormy seas.

• Both these situations were decreed beforehand;

• Both these situations resulted in personal ruin and suffering;

• Both these situations were beyond the control of the poor people affected.

Earthquakes are another example that come to mind. We have no control over the movements of the earth.

Yes. Being caught in an earthquake could be part of a person’s qadr. It is something he has no control over, and yet it has the potential to destroy his life. The same applies to a terminal illness, a pandemic and life and death itself.

أَينَما تَكونوا يُدرِككُمُ المَوتُ وَلَو كُنتُم في بُروجٍ مُشَيَّدَةٍ ۗ

Wherever you may be, death will overtake you, even if you should be in towers of lofty construction.

Sūrāh an Nisā’, 4:78

There are happenings in our own bodies too that are beyond our power and will. Tell me, can you control the way your left ventricle moves inside your heart?

Left ventricle? I don’t even know what that is, let alone control it!

Can you control how much fluid your kidneys will process today, or how your blood will flow through your veins in the next ten minutes?

No obviously, I can’t. I have no control over those actions.

These events and millions more like them, take place every second in our bodies, without us intending them. They are completely outside of our control. Whether we are discussing rainfall, or seismic movements of the earth or the functioning of our own bodies, you can see that there are so many factors beyond our control, factors which demonstrate clearly that man is not the ‘master of his own destiny.’

Tell me about those actions within our control.

Well, you can’t stop it raining, as mentioned before, but you can minimise the degree to which you will get wet.

By leaving home with a good umbrella?

Yes, or by getting in your car. You have the will to decide to do those things.

So, we have the ability to choose in limited situations?

Yes. Consider the example of our bodies again. You may not be able to control your heart movements or your kidney functioning. However, you can choose exactly what your eyes will see. You can decide, of your own accord, what your hands will do, what your tongue will say or where your legs will take you. You can also decide yourself, what your private parts will get up to.

We have been given the ability by Allāh to decide for ourselves, whether those organs remain engaged in good or evil. On the Day of Judgement, we will be held accountable for those things that lay within our choice. The eminent Sheikh Uthaimīn[9] gives a good example when he states,

 “The person who reaches safely the bottom of a flight of stairs knows that this is because he walked down carefully. However, if he is pushed down from the top, he has no power over how he lands at the bottom. The first instance is an example of choice, the second is clearly one of compulsion.”

You mentioned that part of faith in qadr is belief that Allāh has prior knowledge of everything. Does that include knowledge of whether we will commit good or evil?

 Yes. Allāh knows everything. He has prior knowledge of all the actions of His creation, including their obedience and their disobedience.

If it is written in a person’s qadr already that he will do evil, why should Allāh punish him at all?  

As mentioned, Allāh سبحانه وتعالىٰ knows everything about His creation. That includes knowing beforehand the choices his creation will make. Just because Allāh knows someone will make bad choices and commit evil, that doesn’t mean that the punishment for making that bad choice should be lessened.

Imagine that you are planning to cheat in your school exams. Imagine that your teacher has found out from another source what you have in mind. Imagine that even though he knows beforehand you are going to cheat, he still lets you go ahead and commit the act. When you get caught, are you going to protest that you shouldn’t be punished because your teacher knew what you were planning? Regardless of what your teacher knew, you made the bad choice yourself and you should be punished.

What if someone says, “I can’t help it. I was destined to do bad acts?”  

In one narration, a thief had exclaimed to the Khalīfa Omar Al Khattāb رضي الله عنه, “Wait! O Leader of the believers, verily my stealing was by the Qadr of Allāh.” So, Omar replied, “And indeed our cutting off your hand is by the Qadr of Allāh.”[10]

The Qur’aish would defend their bad deeds by arguing that these were the practices of our ancestors. This is a spurious comment and one rejected totally by Allāh,

وَإِذا فَعَلوا فاحِشَةً قالوا وَجَدنا عَلَيها آباءَنا وَاللَّهُ أَمَرَنا بِها ۗ قُل إِنَّ اللَّهَ لا يَأمُرُ بِالفَحشاءِ ۖ أَتَقولونَ عَلَى اللَّهِ ما لا تَعلَمونَ

And when they commit an immorality, they say, “We found our fathers doing it, and Allāh has ordered us to do it.” Say. “Indeed, Allāh does not order immorality. Do not say about Allāh that which you do not know.”

Sūrāh al A‘rāf, 7:28

This reminds me of our discussion about free will, something we have, but the angels don’t?

Yes, well done. This relates to free will, as discussed in our chapter about al Malaika. Remember, unlike malaika, we have the ability to choose whether to do good or bad. We, as humans, can choose either to follow sirāt al mustaqīm (the straight path) or to follow the path of wrongdoing and sin.

Yes, true. It does makes sense that if man does evil, he can be punished for that evil, because he has chosen to do it.

It is only right that such a person should be punished for the evil things he has control over and which he has chosen to do.

• Nobody forces evildoers to lie, cheat or steal. They do those things because they want to;

• Nobody forces evildoers to commit zina;

• They only do so because they refuse to fear Allāh;

• Nobody forces evildoers not to perform salāh. They arrogantly choose to disobey Allāh;

• Nobody forces an evildoer to secretly eat in Ramadhān. No hand will come out of the fridge and grab them by the throat!

Those who choose to do evil, should know that there are consequences for their actions, consequences that they bring upon themselves. Allāh tells us,  

ما أَصابَكَ مِن حَسَنَةٍ فَمِنَ اللَّهِ ۖ وَما أَصابَكَ مِن سَيِّئَةٍ فَمِن نَفسِكَ ۚ وَأَرسَلناكَ لِلنّاسِ رَسولًا ۚ وَكَفىٰ بِاللَّهِ شَهيدًا

What comes to you of good is from Allāh, but what comes to you of evil, (O man), is from yourself

Sūrāh an Nisā’, 4:79

We will continue this important topic in the next chapter, but of course, only if Allāh Wills.

Islām around the world

Eid prayers, Delhi, India