Qadar (Divine Determining)

Third Topic

Indeed, every fruit is written in the seed, which, like the heart, contains the entire life course of the tree. Likewise, not only the life course of man, but also, in part, past events of the world are recorded in a miraculous way in memory. It is as though the Hand of Power writes, with the pen of Qadar, a small document from the record of man’s deeds into this tiny faculty, so that he will remember it on the Day of Reckoning.

Moreover, man is thereby made certain that within this total turmoil of transience and disappearance, many mirrors of eternity are constantly present, in which Qadīr-i Hakīm reflects and preserves the identities of transient beings. Likewise, there are many tablets of permanence upon which Alīm-i Hafīz records the meanings of all that is transient.

Since even the lowest and simplest level of life—plant life—is so carefully subject to the order of Qadar, it is self-evident that the highest level of life—human life—is measured in all its details according to the scale of Qadar and written with its pen.

Indeed, just as raindrops testify to the existence of a cloud, drops of water point to their source, and identity documents indicate the existence of a large population register, so too the fruits, sperm-cells, seeds, kernels, forms, and shapes, which function as the raindrops, water drops, and identity documents of both the evident Qadar—the visible order of living beings—and the conceptual Qadar—the spiritual and vital order of creation—undeniably point to the existence of Kitāb-i Mubīn, the divine book in which the divine will and creative commands are recorded, and Imām-i Mubīn, a preserved tablet of divine knowledge, which is also called Lawh-i Mahfūz.

Conclusion: Since we observe with our own eyes that, during the growth period of every living being, atoms move toward curved and irregular boundaries, stop there, and at the ends of these boundaries produce wisdom, benefit, and purpose, it is completely clear that the outward measure of that being has been drawn with the pen of Qadar. This observable and evident Qadar also shows that the inner states of that living being likewise have precise, ordered, and fruitful boundaries and endpoints marked out by the pen of Qadar. The power of Allah executes, while Qadar is the plan and program. The power of Allah writes creation—a book full of meanings—according to that plan and program.

Since we understand with absolute certainty that both the material and spiritual boundaries drawn with the pen of Qadar have fruitful and purposeful endpoints, it is self-evident that all the circumstances and stages a living being passes through during its life are recorded with the pen of Qadar. For the life course of that being unfolds in an ordered way, with forms changing and new shapes being assumed. Since the pen of Qadar governs all living beings, is it not self-evident that the life course of man — the most perfect fruit of creation, the khalīfa on earth, and the bearer of the greatest amānah — is even more subject to the law of Qadar?