Qadar (Divine Determining)

Second Topic

A profound scholarly analysis intended exclusively for scholars.

The question: How can Qadar, Divine Determining, and man’s free will be reconciled?

The answer: This may be explained in seven ways.

The first way: Allah, the Perfectly Just and All-Wise, Whose wisdom and justice are confirmed by the order and balance of the universe, has given man a free will that forms the basis for reward and punishment. We do not comprehend the many wisdoms behind His actions. Our ignorance of how free will and divine determining come together, therefore, does not prove that free will does not exist.

The second way: Everyone necessarily feels within himself a certain degree of freedom of choice and intuitively knows that it exists. Knowing the nature of something is different from knowing its existence. There are many things whose existence is self-evident to us, while their nature remains unknown to us. In the same way, free will may be placed in this category. Not everything falls within our knowledge. Our lack of knowledge about something does not mean that it does not exist.

The third way: Free will is not contrary to divine determining; rather, it is confirmed by it. For divine determining is a form of divine knowledge. This divine knowledge takes our choices into account, and therefore confirms free will instead of denying it.

The fourth way: Divine determining is a form of knowledge. Knowledge follows what is known. In other words, knowledge relates to how something will be; what is known is not subject to knowledge. Thus, knowledge is not a driving force that can influence what is known with regard to its existence. For the essence and existence of what is known depend on divine will and power.

Therefore, it is not correct to imagine an endpoint of time in the past, call it “azal,” and then fit events in a certain order within ilm-i azalī. Nor does it accord with the truth to place oneself outside that knowledge and judge on the basis of that idea.

To understand this secret, consider the following example:

Suppose you hold a mirror in your hand. Imagine the distance on your right as the past and the distance on your left as the future. The mirror reflects only what is directly in front of it. Then it may reflect a portion of both sides in a certain order, but not all of it. The lower the mirror is, the less it sees. But as you raise the mirror higher, its field of vision expands. At a certain point, it can view both sides fully and simultaneously. In this situation, there is no longer any question of earlier or later, connected or contradictory events within the mirror.

Since Qadar belongs to Ilm-i Azalī, it stands at an exalted station and encompasses all that has happened and all that will happen, from the beginning of time to eternity. We and our judgment are not outside this all-encompassing knowledge, as though it were merely a mirror of the past.

The fifth way: Qadar is connected to both cause and effect at the same time. In other words, it has been determined in Qadar that this effect will occur through this cause. Therefore, one cannot say: “If that person’s death had already been determined at that moment, what fault is there in the one who pulled the trigger? If he had not shot, he would still have died.”