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Belief in Predestination and Decree

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9 views

Belief in Predestination and Decree

Uploaded by

afiaibbi
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Q4 a) What does the statement ‘There is no ability or power except through Allah’ tell you about

Muslim belief in Allah’s predestination and decree? [10]

MARKSCHEME:

 PARAGRAPH#1 ABOUT THE PHRASE


 PARAGRAPH#2 (QADHA-PREDESTINATION)
 PARAGRAPH#3(QADAR- DIVINE DECREE)

FOCUS: Link the statement to Muslim belief in


Predestination and Decree.

Belief in predestination and decree is vital for a believer’s faith. This is due to the reason that it
mentioned Iman-e-mufassil "I believe in God, in His angels, in His books, in His messengers, in the
Last Day, and in the fact that everything, good or bad, is decided by God Almighty and in life after
death" The word 'Qadr' & utaqdie have the same roots as those of `Qadir and "Qadeer” (All
Powerful)." It is an important article of faith. Believing it is mandatory and essential to achieving
righteousness for the preservation of faith. The provided statement ‘There is no ability or power
except through Allah’ strengthens our belief in predestination i.e. Qadha and Divine decree i.e.
Qadar.

The Arabic word for destiny is Qadha and for the decree is Qadar. Qadha is that which has been
destined and Qadar is a destiny that is designed timely. We believe Allah is the absolute controller
and regulator of the universe and everything he created in the universe has a pre-determined course
which we call al-Qadha. This relates to the fate of every individual who has already been destined by
Allah, in the three stages. Firstly, 50,000 years prior to the creation of this world when Allah had
recorded everything in Lauh-e-Mahfooz. It is mentioned in Tirmizi and Abu Dawood that Allah’s
Apostle said, “Verily the first thing Allah created was the pen. He said to it: ‘Write’ It replied: ‘My
lord, what should I write?” So, he said ‘Write all that will occur and all that has occurred.’ So, in
that hour, everything that would occur until the day of response was recorded.”

Secondly, after the creation of Hazrat Adam (A.S). When Allah took out all the progeny of Hazrat
Adam (A.S) and asked them ‘Am I not your lord’ and all of the humans responded ‘We testify that
you are our lord”. (7:172) Al-Araf. Then Allah decreed to them that who shall go to paradise and
who shall go to hell. This is due to the supreme knowledge of Allah that he already knew when all
those souls would be sent down and given free will and desires who would testify to him as Lord and
who would not.

Thirdly, it is written when a fetus is in his mother’s womb and Allah sends on an angel to put the
soul into a fetus and the angel after putting the soul also writes his destiny Allah has decided; his
life span, gender, sustenance, life partner, death and whether he will be a dweller of paradise or
hell. All these three stages are the times when the Divine destiny has been recorded before its
creation. Due to the recording of the destinies by Allah, we believe that the destiny of every creation
is already known to Allah and all the creations of Allah move along their set proportion. The Quran
says, “It is not permitted to the sun to catch up to the moon, nor can the night outstrip the day:
each just swim along in its own orbit (according to the divine will). "(40:36). But this doesn’t mean
that man has no freedom of will and is bound to move along a set proportion.

Human beings are the superior creations of Allah (Ashraf-ul-Makhlooqat). This is because they have
been given the knowledge to explore and free will to decide between right and wrong. Using our
free will, it is up to us to obey or disobey Allah; whether we obey or disobey Allah, it is already
known to him. The fact that everything is known to him regarding what we do, what we did, and
what we are going to do doesn’t affect our freedom of will. We can do anything and choose any way
using our free will. But on the basis of our actions, our timely destiny which is a yearly or daily decree
is decided. That is called Qadar which relates to the destiny of one decided on a daily, weekly, and
yearly basis.

According to our belief, these timely destinies can only be altered by invocations and the
performance of good or bad deeds. The Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) said, “A humble prayer (DUA)
can even alter your destinies.” The change happens in a way that it is possible that Allah sends
daily/ yearly decrees dictating that a person will die this year. However, due to that person’s good
deeds, Allah might send another decree extending that person’s life. We believe the reverse of the
two decrees is also known to Allah alone. The person himself knows nothing of this destiny.

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