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Aqeedah - Belief The Salaf's Guide to the understanding of
al-Qadaa' wal Qadar
FATE IN ISLAAM
by
Dr.Saleh as-SalehPage 8 of 10 | << Previous | NEXT >>
In The Name of Al-Qadar ! ? Some people say, ‘why should we work and exert efforts when we know that Allah knows everything we will do, knows our destiny to either Paradise or Hell, and that He is the Creator of our deeds? Let the Qadar (pre-destined matters) befall upon us and we shall receive whatever comes whether we wish it or not!
? Others say, “If every sin or wrongdoing is a preordained matter, so what is the fault of the one who commits them?
* Both groups blame Al-Qadar which is in reality an accusation against Allah, His Names and Attributes. It implies that Allah loves Kufr, Shirk, murder, adultery, fornication, theft, ill-treatment of parents and all other sins and wrong-doings {1}
Allah is High above such implication. The fact that Allah wills and creates what He wills, does not necessitate that His will is also something He likes. His Mashee’ah, as discussed earlier in the explanation of Al-lradah Al-Kawniyyah and Al-lradah Ash-Shar’iyyah, is not the same as His Attribute of Love. The sayings of both groups do not differentiate between belief and disbelief, good and bad, justice and injustice etc. It leads, as Sheykh ul-Islam Ibn Taymeeyah said: “..to disbelief in the Messengers, the Books of Revelation. To him (who utters the sayings of the above groups), Adam and Moses, Noah and his people, Moses and the Pharaoh, the early Muslims and the Kuffar, are the same!”Al-Fatawa, V. 8, P.100In fact it attributes injustice to Allah! He is Most Glorified and High above what they utter or do. They only blame Al-Qadar for their own deeds and free themselves of any wrong-doing. “Implicit in their claims is the objective of eliminating Al-lradah Ash-Shartiyyah and thus the Commands of Allah: the Lawful and the un-Lawful, the Promise (Paradise) and the Threat (Hell), and those who do this are in a state of Kuffr that is greater than that of the Jews and Christians.” {2}
It is true that Allah willed the existence of Kuffr, Shirk, sins, disobedience, theft, usury, etc. but He, the Most High, hated these matters and commanded His slaves not to commit them.* Allah decreed the results and their causes. Whoever claims that he does not want to go and search for his provisions but instead waits for Al-Qadar, does not comprehend the Taqdeer of Allah in His slaves:
“So walk in the path thereof (on earth) and eat from His Provisions.” Soorah al-Insan (76): 15If Allah had ordained that He will give a person a child, it means that He had ordained for this person to have a wife and have intercourse with her. He ordained illness and ordained its medicine, and that when the ill-man takes the ordained medicine he will be cured. The child does not come without a cause, the produce does not flourish without water and soil, having a full stomach does not occur without food, and quenching thirst does not occur without water or a lawful drink.* Allah ordained for one person that, he supplicates to Him and seeks refuge in Him, and that Allaah answers his call. And ordained that another will not invoke Him and seek His help. Thus, He leaves the later to hiself, and he stays miserable: And Your Rabb said,
‘Supplicate to Me, I will respond to your (Invocation)’ Soorah Ghafir (40): 60* The best answer for both groups lies in the saying of the Prophet (salallahu alaihi wa salalam) when he was asked by his companions about the benefit of performing good deeds when they are preordained by Allah. His answer was “Carry on doing (good) deeds, for everybody will find easy to do such deeds as will lead him to his destined place for which he has been created, and he recited: {As for him who gives (in charity) and keeps his duty to Allah and fears Him, And believes in Al-Husna, we will make smooth for him the path of ease (goodness); But he who is greedy miser and thinks himself self-sufficient, and gives the lie to Al-Husna, we will make smooth for him the path for evil}Saheeh Al-Bukhan, V. 6, Hadeeth # 472One of the companions of the Prophet (salallahu alaihi wa salalam) who understood the meaning of the Hadeeth said: “I have never been so motivated as I am now.”
* Recognizing the means does not mean that we depend upon them, but we should depend upon their Creator - “Allah”. Sheikh ul-Islam Ibn Taymeeyah said: “Relying on the means, alone, is Shirk, and not recognizing their role as means, is a lack of good reason. Completely turning away from them is an insult to Sharee'ah. True dependence and hope (in Allah) comprises: Tawheed, Sharee’ah, and reasoning. Indeed, seeking the means alone, reflects the heart’s dependence and reliance upon them. In fact no creature (The means are part of Allah’s creation) deserves this status, because they (i.e. the means) are not independent; they need associates (as co-partners) as well as contrasts. Besides, means that Allah does not make subservient, would not be so. This shows that Allah is the Rabb and Owner of everything
AI-Fetawa V. 8, P. 170Every means has its copartner and contrast. So if the partner does not help, and the contrast is not averted, the means will not be manifested: Rain, for example, will not be effective in the growth of plantation except by what joins in of the air, soil, etc. The plants will not grow well unless all rotting and spoiling matters are removed. Food and drink will not provide nutrition unless the body organs are proper and healthy. In short, to have useful results, all spoiling, corruptive, and improper means are to be averted.”Al-Fatawa V. 8, P. 167* Those who take Al-Qadar as a pretext for doing sinful and unlawful acts, should not blame anyone who may inflict harm upon them using the same excuse. They should not hate anyone, or accuse anyone of injustice regardless of the horrible crimes that may be committed. By all means, their arguments are baseless and may lead the world into destruction.F O O T N O T E S
{1} The Sufi mystic sects fell deeply into the false belief that Allah necessarily loves whatever He brings to existence. In fact, to many mystics, everything is Allah and Allah is the “essence” of every existing thing. This belief is known as Wahdatul Wujud or The Unity of Being. Exalted and Glorified Allah is above what they utter.
{2} Al-Fatawa, V.8, P.288. He also said on page 262: “If these people insist on their beliefs, then their Kuffr is greater than that of the Jews and Christians, because the latter believe in the Commands, Paradise and Hell, and Reward and Punishment, but they have altered, changed, believed in some parts of their religions and disbelieved in other parts of them.”
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