Understanding

predestination
and free will

Afroz Ali

An al-Ghazzali Centre Awareness Paper

Understanding
Predestination
And Free Will

Afroz Ali
 al- Ghazzali Centre
For Islamic Sciences & Human Development
www.alghazzali.org
[email protected]

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Understanding “Predestination”
And The Concept of Free Will
In the Name of Allah, The Source of Mercy, The Most Merciful
Peace and Blessings of Allah upon the Prophet of Allah,
Muhammad, his Family, Companions, and Followers.

1. Introduction
The most complex of matters in Theology is the matter
of “predestination”, or some would call it, fate. Many a
times it has caused some to succumb to a feeling of
helplessness, and for some the concept has led them
astray and away from their firmness in their heart upon
Belief in God Almighty, Allah Ta’ala. Furthermore, it has
also been misused to lead others astray, to confuse
them and to cause doubt in them about the All-
Knowing, All-Wise Allah.

In Islam, “predestination” as a reality constitutes one of

the six Principles of Faith. Acceptance of it is a basic
requirement for a Muslim. Having said that, it is
important to mention that not believing in it, does not
negate its existence, but certainly negates ones Faith.
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The purpose of this essay is to provide insight into the

matter of “predestination”, in as simple words as
possible. An attempt will also be made to describe, not
define, the concept behind “predestination”, as well as
to look at the semantics of language, both Arabic and
English, to clarify some of the misconceptions, as well
as to provide as accurate a description as possible.

The matter of “predestination” is a realm of Allah. And

fundamentally because of that, and that we as humans
know so little, all that is good and worthy of truth in
this essay is truly from Allah, and all that is incorrect,
are exclusively my own shortcomings.

2. Definitions
Defining the terms is essential in understanding any
matter. However, it is more likely, more often than
not, that human beings merely describe things, rather
than define them. And this topic is no exemption from
that. In defining the subject matter, it will be necessary
to undertake a semantic post-mortem of the actual
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words that define the concept, via utilising descriptions

to define this complex matter.

The more apt term for the concept of “predestination”

is Divine Decree. We will return to language semantics
in English, as to why the former term is very
inappropriate, and in fact incorrect.

And, even before looking to understand the concept, it

would be prudent to recognise the source of this
concept in Islam, and what exactly it says.

Firstly, the Qur’an mentions the following:

With Him are the keys of the Unseen. None but He knows
them. He knows what is in the land and the sea. Not a leaf
falls but He knows it, not a grain amid the darkness of the
soil, naught of wet or dry but it is in a “Kitabun Mubin”
(Manifest Book). [6:59]

There is nothing hidden in the heaven or the Earth but it is

in a Manifest Book. [27:75]
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It is We Who bring the dead to life. We record what they

send (of their lives and conduct to the Hereafter) and what
is left of them. All things we have kept in a “Imamun
Mubin” (Manifest Record). [36:12]

Verily, all things We have created in determined measure.

[54:49]

Therefore, believe in Allah and His Messenger, and in the

Light (this Qur'an) which We have sent down. And Allah is
All-Aware of what you do. (and remember) the Day when
He will gather you on the Day of Gathering, that will be the
Day of mutual loss and gain. And whosoever believes in
Allah and performs righteous good deeds, He will remit
from him his sins, and will admit him to Gardens under
which rivers flow to dwell therein forever, that will be the
great success. But those who disbelieved and denied Our
Signs, they will be the dwellers of the Fire, to dwell therein
forever. And worst indeed is that destination. No calamity
befalls, but with the Decree of Allah, and whosoever believes
in Allah, He guides his heart, and Allah is the All-Knower of
everything. [64:8-11]

They ask: “When (will) this promise (be fulfilled), if you are
truthful?” Say: “The knowledge (of time) is with Allah alone,
and I (Muhammad) am but a plain warner.” [67:25-26]
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Nay, this is a glorious Quran. On a “Lawhun

Mahfuz”(Tablet preserved from corruption) [85:21-22]

Prophetic Narrations mention the following:

Narrated 'Abdullah: Allah's Messenger, 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 reveal 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 person)
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."
[Saheeh Bukhari 8:77-593]

Narrated Abu Huraira: The Prophet said (that Allah said),

"Vowing does not bring to the son of Adam anything I have
not already written in his fate, but vowing is imposed on him
by way of fore ordainment. Through vowing I make a miser
spend of his wealth." [Saheeh Bukhari 8:77-606]
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Evidences from the Qur’an and the Records of

Prophetic Narrations, Hadeeth, are plentiful, and so the
quotes above are not exhaustive. The Revelation of the
Qur’an and the narrations of the Prophet formulate an
unavoidable principle in the Creed of a Muslim,
Aqeedah:

Faith is belief in Allah, His Angels, his Revelations, his

Messengers, The Last Day, Resurrection after Death and
the Divine Decree, its benefit and harm, its sweetness and
bitterness is from Allah, The Exalted … from the Creed of Imam
al-Tahawi

2.1 The Key Arabic Terms

This is the required belief of a Muslim, in which the
Divine Decree, its bitterness and sweetness, forms an
integral part.

The key terms in all of the Qur’anic and Prophetic

sources are “Qadaa” and “Qadar”. Scholars differ in
the exact meaning of these two simple yet profoundly
complex words. They differ principally on which of the
two words refer exactly to a particular description.
They both have a similar meaning, with slightly different
descriptions, and here we shall look at them
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collectively rather than separately. We will briefly look

at the meaning of the terms, without getting too deeply
into the pedantry of delicate scholarly differences.

In simple English, it would be described as “The Decision

and Determination of Allah”… Allah being the Divine
entity, hence the more appropriate phrase, “Divine
Decree”.

The concept has two components to it, namely:

i) Act of determined, deliberate measure as
decided;
ii) the exclusive will to execute that decision

Everything exists in Allah’s Knowledge, and He assigns

to each a certain shape, life span, function or mission,
and certain characteristics. Its execution is Willed,
either permitted or disallowed, by Allah.

These are obviously, earthly descriptions of a heavenly

matter. And the concept of time as we, human beings
and probably all created things know it, makes it
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complicated. The human intellect considers the two

components in a time line, in a linear manner. I shall
return to this important issue later, but suffice to say
now that this is indeed where the problem lies in
understanding Divine Decree.

Allah’s Knowledge includes all space and time, yet He

Allah is absolutely free of both of them. Allah is not
bound by time or space.

2.2. The Key English Terms

It is very important to also consider the English words
often rendered to mean the Divine Decree described
above. Here is where the key definitional problem lies,
and a lot of which has to do with the dimension of time
as humans recognise it.

The two terms often used are “predestination” and

“fate”.

i) Predestination
- determined in advance
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- the doctrine that God in consequence of his

foreknowledge of all events infallibly guides those
who are destined for salvation

ii) Fate
- The supposed force, principle, or power that
predetermines events
- The inevitable events predestined by this force,
normally personified as a woman, as in Greek
mythology The three goddesses, Clotho, Lachesis,
and Atropos

Both these words fail to come close to describe the

exactness of what Qadaa and Qadar are. Firstly,
“predestination” considers the meaning in a timeframe,
as in something happened first, then something is
happening and then something will happen, as three
separate occasions. It also has a concept of fatalism,
that one is completely stripped of free will to choose,
AS WELL as the results that follow. Secondly, “fate”,
in its original form (although this aspect is very much
lost in modern English), really refers to a force that
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bounds all actions. The fact is that the very word “fate”
does not refer to the power of God in its original
sense. Again, although a timeline aspect is secondarily
present in the meaning, the more corrupt aspect is of
fatalism, that one is stripped of freewill to act because
it was previously destined by that force.

The concept of Divine Decree in Islam is far from this

types of definition or description. It is really neither
“predestination” nor “fate”. It is Divine Decree by the
Decision and Determination of Allah.

It would greatly help the discussion by briefly analysing

the concept of time as recognised by human beings.
Whilst I am not a scientist, and in fact am a layman to
the depths of the science of time, my brief attempt to
explain the concept will greatly aid those who have
been misguided into believing in fatalism, that they were
somehow powerless to effect positive change in their
lives.
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3. The Concept of Time

Human beings understand their lives based on the
dimension of time. It is a linear thought-process.
Human beings know nothing, if time is not an included
factor. We cannot fathom, nor imagine a state of
timelessness. We see and recognise things as it were in
the past, we experience things as they are in the
present, and we anticipate a future. At no one point of
time can we know any act we are capable of, in its past
form and simultaneously in its present and future. We
can predict and we can rely on “natural” laws to give us
the same answer to an action. That is simply because
for it not to follow the “natural” laws, it would be a
miracle, that only the Creator of that Law can effect.
And, miracles do not occur everyday, not for ordinary
people… but that is another story. These natural laws
are the laws as Willed by Allah. It is not some unknown
force. Science may argue it knows a lot, but really its
“god of the unknown” is nature. Nature often acts as
the “I don’t know” plug. Islam, on the other hand,
confirms to us that we as humans do not know much,
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and the only entity that knows all, is the creator of all-
Allah, the One and only God, the Creator of all things.

But how does all that explain Divine Decree and the
lack of time in that reality, a reality beyond human
comprehension?

The answer is quite simple. Allah is not bound by what

it creates. Allah is free of its creation. One of the
Creations of Allah is, time. Therefore time does not
apply to the realm of the Divine.

Let us briefly look at how human beings observe or

recognise their existence.

This is how human beings decipher knowledge that is

processed… in a linear fashion. It is not until t=0
occurs (which really means that if you had a stop
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watch, it is the time you click “start”), that t=1 will be

recognised, when THAT actually occurs, not before,
i.e., the present (by which time, t=0 is now the past,
and t=2 is still a future). When we arrive at a future
time, t=2, this now becomes the present, and the t=1
the past, and so on. In other words, it is impossible for
human beings to know everything, or in fact anything,
beyond what it can recognise as actually happening or
already happened. Further, even in the zone of t=1, the
present, we only know what we are made to know or
are aware of. If at the present, for example, there is a
cat on the window, but you do not see or hear it, you
have not idea it is there… but its existence remains
despite you not knowing it.

This is the extremely limited nature of human beings.

God, The Creator, Allah, does not operate in this

manner. Time does not exist in His realm. He is not
bound by it. This is a very important matter to
understand, in order to understand why, to say that
Allah has “advanced or prior knowledge”, really is not
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correct, because we end up reducing the Divine by

encompassing it with time… t=0, the past. Allah
encompasses everything and nothing encompasses Him.

The only human concept of understanding this matter

of Divine Decree is to know that Allah encompasses
the knowledge “what was, is and will be” without time.
It is almost like looking at the timeline drawn above
from its end.

Imagine you are holding a straight-edge stick (your pen

will do for this exercise) that you first align to your eye
in front of you, seeing the length of the stick. You may
even mark the stick out like the diagram above. Now
rotate the stick so that you only see its end. If it is a
round stick, you would see a little circle. Imagine that
as you rotated it, all those times, t=0, 1, 2… past,
present and future rotated with you. Now that you are
seeing it from one end, you are in fact seeing these
timeframes overlapping on each other, as it exists. The
past, present and future are reduced to the same plane,
without the lapse of actual time. It is like a point. In fact
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time lapse, which allows us to recognise past, present

and future, can no longer exist in this realm- a realm
beyond human comprehension. This is the realm of the
Divine, Allah.

In the above diagram, the green circle represents the

end of the round stick you were holding to understand
this concept- the point like a pinhead. Those three
points in time, t=0, 1, 2 now overlaps, which we know
cannot occur in our reality.
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This exercise is a description only, for the purpose of

understanding the concept of Divine Decree, and why
the concepts of fatalism, and human beings not having
free will is a false one. In fact the above exercise is a
proof also that Allah does not exist in a time-space
realm. Allah did not or does not manifest Himself as a
human or another form to exist in our linear world of
space and time. He neither existed in such a realm, nor
exists so. Further, He never will exist in such a realm,
as it is above and beyond the Divine Reality. Divine
Decree is the Determination and Decision by Allah.

4. Free Will
Islam considers all human beings to be born free of any
sin or embellishment. Islam rejects the idea of the
Original Sin, but embraces and confirms individual
responsibility. It is our own actions by responding to
the stimuli of our environment (not just the natural
environment, but all that exists and interacts with us),
that brings upon us our own shortcomings or
goodness. When we act by the Guidance of Allah, and
intend to act so, we are acting righteously, for which
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our Creator rewards us for that good deed. When we

act against the Guidance of Allah, and intend to act so,
we are acting wrongfully, for which our Creator
punishes us for that sin.

The free will of human beings is in the action, in the

choice to act one way or the other. Allah is All-Aware
of those choices and its consequences. We as human
beings are not always aware of the consequences. To
every action there is a consequence, as is the “Natural”
Law. Allah’s Awareness is not a reason for Him
stopping us from acting righteously OR wrongfully. The
free will of the human is in the choice to act. The
Decree of Allah is in His Decision or Will for it to
occur. In addition, the Decree of Allah by the
measurement of the “natural” law, leads to the
consequences… or the results of the action.

The concept of Free Will is extremely simple. We are

responsible for our actions. The Knowledge of Allah of
our actions must not be confused with fatalism, or that
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we are unable to have control over our actions. We

have total control, by the Will of Allah.

5. Conclusion
If every human being understood the laws of action
leading to consequences by virtue of our own actions,
willed by Allah, the matter of Divine Decree and Free
Will poses no difficulty in understanding. More
importantly, understanding and an acceptance of this
matter, should be the most potent of cures, and
prevention of illnesses like depression, low self esteem,
feeling of loss, despair and helplessness. Whilst there
are biochemical reasons for complications like
depression, most such illnesses are a loss of trust in the
Divine Decree. According to Islamic Tradition, this is a
Disease of the Heart called “Sakkhatul Qadar”, or
displeasure with the Divine Decree.

As human beings, and indeed as people who

understand the Revelations of the Creator, Allah
Almighty, we ought to understand and accept that
Divine Decree is in fact our protection and
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empowerment to become the best we can as human

beings. Everything is from Allah alone, and success
indeed is from Allah alone.