Free Will and Predestination in Islam: Difference between revisions

This article asks the question; can there be such a thing as “Free Will” in [[Islam]]?

 

The discussion of Free Will and [[Predestination]] in Islam must begin with certain presumptions concerning the character of [[Allah]]. It must further be acknowledged that these presumptions are all orthodox Muslim dogma.

 

If these statements are all presumed true, then they can serve as the logical starting points for determining their consistency with the concept of a “test for salvation.”

Now, not only is this a logical conclusion based on the concept of Allah himself, but it also a position that is formally expressed in several [[Sahih]] [[Hadith|ahadith]]. At least four times in Sahih Bukhari,<ref>"''Narrated 'Abdullah bin Mus'ud: Allah's Apostle, the true and truly inspired said, "(The matter of the Creation of) a human being is put together in the womb of the mother in forty days, and then he becomes a clot of thick blood for a similar period, and then a piece of flesh for a similar period. Then Allah sends an angel who is ordered to write four things. He is ordered to write down his (i.e. the new creature's) deeds, his livelihood, his (date of) death, and whether he will be blessed or wretched (in religion). Then the soul is breathed into him. So, a man amongst you may do (good deeds till there is only a cubit between him and Paradise and then what has been written for him decides his behavior and he starts doing (evil) deeds characteristic of the people of the (Hell) Fire. And similarly a man amongst you may do (evil) deeds till there is only a cubit between him and the (Hell) Fire, and then what has been written for him decides his behavior, and he starts doing deeds characteristic of the people of Paradise."''" - {{Bukhari|4|54|430}}</ref><ref>"''Narrated Abdullah: Allah's Apostle, the true and truly inspired said, "(as regards your creation), every one of you is collected in the womb of his mother for the first forty days, and then he becomes a clot for an other forty days, and then a piece of flesh for an other forty days. Then Allah sends an angel to write four words: He writes his deeds, time of his death, means of his livelihood, and whether he will be wretched or blessed (in religion). Then the soul is breathed into his body. So a man may do deeds characteristic of the people of the (Hell) Fire, so much so that there is only the distance of a cubit between him and it, and then what has been written (by the angel) surpasses, and so he starts doing deeds characteristic of the people of Paradise and enters Paradise. Similarly, a person may do deeds characteristic of the people of Paradise, so much so that there is only the distance of a cubit between him and it, and then what has been written (by the angel) surpasses, and he starts doing deeds of the people of the (Hell) Fire and enters the (Hell) Fire."''" - {{Bukhari|4|55|549}}</ref><ref>"''Narrated 'Abdullah: Allah's Apostle, the truthful and truly-inspired, said, "Each one of you collected in the womb of his mother for forty days, and then turns into a clot for an equal period (of forty days) and turns into a piece of flesh for a similar period (of forty days) and then Allah sends an angel and orders him to write four things, i.e., his provision, his age, and whether he will be of the wretched or the blessed (in the Hereafter). Then the soul is breathed into him. And by Allah, a person among you (or a man) may do deeds of the people of the Fire till there is only a cubit or an arm-breadth distance between him and the Fire, but then that writing (which Allah has ordered the angel to write) precedes, and he does the deeds of the people of Paradise and enters it; and a man may do the deeds of the people of Paradise till there is only a cubit or two between him and Paradise, and then that writing precedes and he does the deeds of the people of the Fire and enters it."''" - {{Bukhari|8|77|593}}</ref><ref>"''Narrated 'Abdullah bin Mas'ud: Allah's Apostle the true and truly inspired, narrated to us, "The creation of everyone of you starts with the process of collecting the material for his body within forty days and forty nights in the womb of his mother. Then he becomes a clot of thick blood for a similar period (40 days) and then he becomes like a piece of flesh for a similar period. Then an angel is sent to him (by Allah) and the angel is allowed (ordered) to write four things; his livelihood, his (date of) death, his deeds, and whether he will be a wretched one or a blessed one (in the Hereafter) and then the soul is breathed into him. So one of you may do (good) deeds characteristic of the people of Paradise so much that there is nothing except a cubit between him and Paradise but then what has been written for him decides his behavior and he starts doing (evil) deeds characteristic of the people of Hell (Fire) and (ultimately) enters Hell (Fire); and one of you may do (evil) deeds characteristic of the people of Hell (Fire) so much so that there is nothing except a cubit between him and Hell (Fire), then what has been written for him decides his behavior and he starts doing (good) deeds characteristic of the people of Paradise and ultimately) enters Paradise." (See Hadith No. 430, Vol. 4)''" - {{Bukhari|9|93|546}}</ref> and once in Sahih Muslim,<ref>"''Abdullah (b. Mas'ud) reported that Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) who is the most truthful (of the human beings) and his being truthful (is a fact) said: Verily your creation is on this wise. The constituents of one of you are collected for forty days in his mother's womb in the form of blood, after which it becomes a clot of blood in another period of forty days. Then it becomes a lump of flesh and forty days later Allah sends His angel to it with instructions concerning four things, so the angel writes down his livelihood, his death, his deeds, his fortune and misfortune. By Him, besides Whom there is no god, that one amongst you acts like the people deserving Paradise until between him and Paradise there remains but the distance of a cubit, when suddenly the writing of destiny overcomes him and he begins to act like the denizens of Hell and thus enters Hell, and another one acts in the way of the denizens of Hell, until there remains between him and Hell a distance of a cubit that the writing of destiny overcomes him and then he begins to act like the people of Paradise and enters Paradise.''" - {{Muslim|33|6390}}</ref> we find versions of the following hadith:  

Do we find any similar indications in the [[Qur'an]] itself to indicate that “free will” might not exist? Actually yes. A number of ayaat are quite explicit that the choice of being saved or condemned belongs not to the human, but to Allah alone.  

So in fact, it appears that the Qur’an and the hadith are in complete agreement that there is no free will when it comes to salvation or damnation. These decisions are made ahead of time by Allah and assigned to humanity. This is in fact the mainstream Islamic understanding, and the implications of this are enormous.

 

 

Just scratching the surface we must conclude that, according to Islamic beliefs:

 

#Life on earth ''is not a test'' for salvation. For what is there to test if the results are known ahead of time and there is nothing we can do to change them?

#People are not led to Islam because it is superior message or religion, but because Allah decided that they would become Muslims whether they wanted to or not.

#Since the vast majority of human beings who have ever lived, and who are living today are not Muslim, Allah must have created the vast majority of human beings for the ''express purpose'' of condemning them to [[Jahannam]]. Therefore the primary purpose of creation must be hell and suffering, not paradise and salvation.