Understanding 

Freewill and Predestiny in Islam

• To Act or not to Act?
• Who controls your Fate?
• Are we predestined?
• Am I a victim of my Fate?
• Divine Intervention or Human Freewill?
Module promo
• What is the concept of Taqdeer (destiny) in Islam?
• If Allah Ta’ala already knows everything and has written it down, is there any freedom
that I really have?
• And if we are not free to act, why should we be punished for our sins and rewarded for
our virtues?
• Why should we even strive or make an effort when Allah Ta’ala has already written down
our fates?
• Why is there evil in the world?
• Why should someone get an eternity in Hellfire for limited action?
• Allah Guides and Misguides?
• Born Muslim Vs Muslim by choice…
Early muslims were asking these questions
1. Sahaba
2. Tabieen
3. Hasan Al-Basri

•How did they arrive at this question?

They were thinking about Allah as the creator, for-
ever existing
• Everything else is the creation and He alone is the creator
• He exists Now as He has always existed
• He exists now as He existed before He created space and time.
• Space(Makan) and time(Zaman) themselves are creations.
• So He transcends them… These concepts are meaningless for Him
• Similarly He transcends direction. Its wrong to say that Allah is up or
everywhere.
• In Arabic we phrase this Transcendental nature of the divine as ‘wa ra al wara
thuma war a al wara thuma wara al wara’ without any attribution of direction,
place and time... Beyond…
Second aspect…
• Allah has sifaat. Some of them He has revealed in the Quran
(asma ul husna)
• Allah is Ultimate and Absolute in all those sifaat. E.g . If He is
Ar-Rehman He is the absolute possessor and giver of mercy.
• In particular ,
• His two sifaat, Ilm and Qudrat; His knowledge and Power are
beyond time and space
• So He knows everything and has power over everything… then
where does my freedom and action come in?
So how is this question resolved? What is the
division here?
• Every activity is based on two things.
>>>One is this issue of knowing.
>>>Second thing is to choose and do.

• Two paradoxes:
1) IF Allah did both the knowing and choosing & doing, life would be non sensical and
would not make any sense.
2) IF humans did both the knowing and choosing & doing i.e. You knew everything that you
will be going to do in future and you will also choose to do it and do it yourself…this
knowledge humans just cant handle

Solution: Allah does the Knowing, Humans do the Choosing and Doing
How does this mean I have my own freedom?
If somebody knows in advance what you are going to do does not
negate your choice in that matter
Eg:
1. You know that I will come in the room at 11am
2. Professor knowing that a certain student will get an F
3. One of the twin brothers will ask a particular question

Reason: The more intimately you know someone the more you can
predict their behavior.
Nature Vs Nurture debate…Behavioral
genes/predetermined biologically?
Philosophers use nature (Tabiyat) and nurture (Maahol) to negate
freewill because they say these things shape a person’s thoughts.
Islam’s reply: We have the ability to modify our behaviour through therapy
and mujahida against nafs or tazkiya of nafs.
• So our behavior is not predetermined genetically (i.e. by our nature)
• Similarly nurture doesn’t determine the outcome but it leads to parameters.
You don’t have the ability to do everything and anything in the world. You
have limited choices. That doesn’t mean it negates your free will…It just
means your free will is not infinite.
Limited freewill
•Pathways predetermined by Allah SWT
1. Taqdeer-e-Mubram (Irrevocable)
2. Taqdeer-e-Mu’allaq (Revocable and Dependent on Actions –Pending evidently or
not so evidently in the Book of Allah)
•Thawban reports that the Messenger of Allah said, "Verily a man is
deprived of a provision (that was written for him) because of a sin that he
commits; only supplication changes destiny; and only righteousness can
increase the life span." (Nasai, Ibn Majah)
Why human beings were created in the first
place?
Firstly, the purpose of mankind’s creation is that we worship Allah
the Almighty and we show obedience to Him. Allah states in the
Holy Qur’an, “I created the Jinn and humankind only that they
might worship me.” (51:56)
Allah ta’ala did this out of love, not out of need.
 Hadith e Qudsi*: I was a hidden treasure, and I loved that I be discovered

*Tradition says that it is the divine response to the Prophet Dawpood’s query, when he asked about the
purpose of creation. These are not the words of the Prophet Muhammad (SAW), and no chain of transmission
is known for this hadith, whether sound or weak, as Ibn Taymiyya and others state. But the meaning is true.
(continued…)
Secondly, this world serves as a test of our obedience towards our
creator and so that He may reward us in the next world
accordingly. Allah states in the Holy Qur’an, “Verily we created
man from a drop of mingled sperm, in order to try him: so we
gave him (the gifts), of hearing and sight. We showed him the
way: whether he be grateful or ungrateful (rests on his will).”
(76:2-3)

Thirdly, the notion that this world is a test warrants that the
subjects being tested possess free-will or else there would be no
meaning to such a test.
How will Allah ta’ala be discovered?
• That would be through the freewill of human beings
• They have been given the freedom and ability to i) disbelieve
and ii) disobey. No other creation has this ability.
• When they believe and obey out of their free will, that is
reciprocal love to Allah.
On what basis should human beings exist
forever?
• Eternity belongs to Allah ta’ala only.
• His justice dictated that human beings have a distinctive
character to make them live forever based on freewill.
Why a person should go to hell forever?
• Nobody asks why a person should live in heaven forever?
• If a person commits a sin for lets say 80 or 100 years why
should they be sent to hell forever? That is unfair!
Hadith: Actions are judged by intentions.
E.G. A UMT boy goes to an old baba ji and asks till when will you keep praying to Allah
ta’ala? The baba ji would say for as long as I have life. His intention is forever.

E.G. There is a Marxist atheist baba ji and another kind of UMT boy goes to him and says
baba ji till when will you keep denying Allah ta’ala? Please do one or two sajda. And the
baba ji would say no, I can’t do it. I don’t believe in God. I will keep denying god no matter
how long my life is. His niyat is also for forever.
 Good and evil
Q: Did Allah ta’ala create evil?
ANS: Yes He did, He created all the evil from day one because creating
evil is different than doing evil. And by this He gave value to GOOD
and kept freewill of humans intact.
E.g. When a class is setup, an opportunity is created for a student to get an A and an
F. is that evil? If a student chooses F, is that the professor’s fault?

Q: What about the death of your dear ones, earthquakes, etc?

ANS: On the surface they look evil on Allah’s part but in His greater
scheme all these events lead to some greater good. Also “fasaad” is
caused by the earnings of humans (Quranic ayat)
E.g. Shaukat Khanum hospital.
(continued…)
Q: Why did Allah give freedom to hurt others?
ANS: This life is a means of interaction and a display of freewill. Divine Hand
would not intervene – that would be a miracle
E.g. Some male raping a female
(continued…)
Q: Why do we find injustice around us on this earth?
ANS: There is injustice on this earth. No matter how long life on earth
is, it is equal to zero when divided by infinity. This means all injustice
on earth is zero. But Allah ta’ala doesn’t even allow this and to stop it
He sends down deen, a system to stop injustice. He sends prophets and
wahi so that human beings can follow the system and eliminate
injustice completely. He couldn’t compel us to do that because that
would’ve eliminated freewill.
E.g. A worker in IMF says if the rich countries were to give away 2 percent of their
stores, there would be no poverty in the world. Human beings have the choice to
eliminate evil and injustice.
 Logic dictates that whatever reason
you choose you’ve got to be true to it
• There is something called Deen and there is something called Dunya
• If you think that there is no free will, every thing is predestined, you can
not use that to do just nothing in deen, do nothing in dunya too.
• Its okay to be genuinely confused about the issue of free will and
predestination. Thinking it to be a paradox you feel you should do nothing
then you should do nothing in both. Don’t pray namaz but don’t study
either. Don’t make dua and don’t eat also. Do nothing because it’s all
destined!
Issue of guidance and misguidance.
• In Quran Allah says that He misguides people. Takes them away from
hidaya…this is a very confusing thing!
• Whenever in Quran Allah talks about misguiding, interestingly misguiding
is the last word in the whole passage.
• A person gets Hidayah and he chooses to go astray. He then keeps getting
hidayah and chooses to go astray. Allah swt says, Its ok, if you have to take
this route, then you should. Realize that Allah swt has not misguided a
person, in fact He says that when there is such a level of disobedience,
then Allah swt no longer guides them. They got 1000s of chances of
hidayah but they were not ready to accept it. Allah sets a seal on their
heart, and then its over.
A born muslim/non muslim
e.g. Raj is a person who is born in Hindu family on that side of the border.
And then there is another person Salman who is born on this side of the
border in a Muslim family. Now you would say that this is unfair!
• EVERY Hindu would/could become a Muslim, that would not be possible.
Allah swt says in the Quran, “The majority of humanity will not believe”.
• No one gets locked into it the religion So it means that it is possible for
people to change their religion from both sides.
• There is a high probability that the vast majority of people who are born in
Hindu families, will stay Hindu and similarly with muslims.
(continued…)
• ‘Salman’ has a greater chance of making it and Raj has a lesser chance of
making it to Jannat statistically. This still seems unfair and looks as if Raj
is predestined with a higher probability to go to hell.
Answer: Transitive Good! That you can do something, and it results in good
for somebody else. The way the greatest evil is to disbelieve and disobey; the
way the greatest good is to believe and to obey. Every single Muslim alive
today is descendent of a convert. Even if they are a descendent of sahabah,
every sahabah was a convert. Every sahabah was a non Muslim before the
Prophet s.a.w declared Prophet hood.
So almost 90% of us have a great great great grandfather who was ‘Raj’.
Now when that great grand father becomes Muslim, Allah Ta’ala also makes
it a transitive good that iman will now flow in his nasal
Proof of transitive good
• e.g. from deen: Story of Musa (A.S) and Khizer (A.S)
• e.g. from dunya: At some point in your fore fathers somebody must have
made a decision to either get education, or to work hard or to do something
which enabled them to get some money and that effected all of their
progeny and hence you became a person who went to some good school
and you’re now able to come to UMT. In the rickshaw guy’s family, no
body in his fore fathers made that decision and so he is stuck himself
driving a rickshaw with him just having finished his third grade.
• So what our elders do, it affects us. The good that our elders do affects us
both in deen and dunya.
What happens to Raj?
• Not every disbeliever necessarily goes to hell immediately and forever.
• Two categories of human beings in the Qur’an:
1) The believer
2) The unbelievers

• Believers again are of two kinds:

1) who go to Jannat straight.
2) who will have to go through Jahannam and then they’ll go to Jannat.
Why? Iman Is Like Gold.
(continued…)
Likewise Disbelievers are of two kinds:
1) who knew the true Islam but still disbelieved in Allah. E.g. Abu‐Lahab, Abu‐Jahal
2) who didn’t know the true Islam.
There is a difference of opinion in the 2nd category of unbelievers.
Some scholars split them up into two groups.
1) who have the ability; they could’ve known but they didn’t.
2) who didn’t have the ability e.g. Imam Al Ghazzali r.a. in his books, he actually
writes about the Europeans who were alive on the earth when the Prophet s.a.w was
alive but they had no idea about him.
(continued…)
Such non believers will then be judged on
1) Tawheed
Allah s.w.t said in the Qur’an that He called all of the human souls to Him, all
of the arwah and He let all of the ruhs look upon him and He asked them
“ALASTU BIRABBIKUM” (Am I not your Rabb?)
“QAALU BALAA” (All of them said yes)
Every single human soul saw the Beauty of Allah when He unveiled it. So the
arwaah fell in love with Allah. That’s part of our fitrah. They wont know the
Qur’anic God concept, but they’ll at some time in their life have some feeling
of Allah. They’ll be judged on how they responded to that feeling.
(continued…)
2) Universal ethics.
It is universally known that it is wrong to sleep with the neighbor’s wife; it is
wrong to steal from their friend; it is wrong to lie; selfishness is condemnable
and selflessness is admired, etc
They would know all these because it was part of their inherent fitrah as Allah
Ta’ala said that in the Qur’an
“Fa Alhamaha Fujooraha Wa Taqwaaha”
So they’ll be judged on that basis.
Conclusion
• End of the day, Islamic theology does not teach a Muslim to view a non­
Muslim as an unbeliever damned to hell rather as a Potential Ummati.
• Rather it our job as Muslims, to view unbelievers as people who should be
given the message of daawah… share with them the true Islam keeping in
mind that actions speak louder than words!