Second Topic

The question: Why can one not say this?

The answer: Because QadarDivine decree; Allah’s pre-eternal knowledge, determination, and measure of all things and events. determined that his death would occur through that bullet. If you suppose that the shooter had not shot, you are implying that QadarDivine decree; Allah’s pre-eternal knowledge, determination, and measure of all things and events. is not connected to both cause and effect at the same time. In that case, on what would you base that person’s death?

You would then have to assume, like the followers of the JabriyyaAn early Islamic theological school that emphasized divine predestination to the extent of minimizing or denying meaningful human free choice in actions., that cause and effect are each separately determined by QadarDivine decree; Allah’s pre-eternal knowledge, determination, and measure of all things and events., or else, like the followers of the MutazilaAn early Islamic theological school that emphasized reason and human free will, maintaining that human beings create their own voluntary actions and are therefore fully responsible for them., deny QadarDivine decree; Allah’s pre-eternal knowledge, determination, and measure of all things and events. and join the misguided sects by rejecting the doctrine of Ahlus-Sunnah wal-JamaahThe mainstream Muslim community that follows the Qur’an and the Sunnah..

Therefore, we, the followers of truth, say: “If he had not shot, his death would have remained unknown to us.” The followers of the JabriyyaAn early Islamic theological school that emphasized divine predestination to the extent of minimizing or denying meaningful human free choice in actions. say: “If he had not shot, he would still have died.” The followers of the MutazilaAn early Islamic theological school that emphasized reason and human free will, maintaining that human beings create their own voluntary actions and are therefore fully responsible for them. say: “If he had not shot, he would not have died.”

The sixth way: MayalānAn inclination or tendency toward a particular action or course of conduct., the inclination to do something, which forms the fundamental basis of man’s free will, is regarded in the MāturīdīA follower of the Māturīdī school of Sunni Islamic theology, one of the two principal theological schools of Ahl al-Sunnah. school as an amr-i itibārīA conceptual or relative construct that has no independent external reality but is accepted for practical purposes, such as a meter or other units of measurement., a conceptual matter, and may be attributed to the servant. The AsharīA follower of the Ashʿarī school of Islamic theology, founded by Abu al-Hasan al-Ashari, one of the two principal theological schools of Ahl al-Sunnah. school, however, regarded mayalānAn inclination or tendency toward a particular action or course of conduct. as an existent thing and therefore did not attribute it to the servant, while it did regard control over this inclination as an amr-i itibārīA conceptual or relative construct that has no independent external reality but is accepted for practical purposes, such as a meter or other units of measurement.. This means that either the inclination itself, according to the MāturīdīA follower of the Māturīdī school of Sunni Islamic theology, one of the two principal theological schools of Ahl al-Sunnah. school, or control over it, according to the AsharīA follower of the Ashʿarī school of Islamic theology, founded by Abu al-Hasan al-Ashari, one of the two principal theological schools of Ahl al-Sunnah. school, is an amr-i itibārīA conceptual or relative construct that has no independent external reality but is accepted for practical purposes, such as a meter or other units of measurement. and not an externally existent thing.

As for an amr-i itibārīA conceptual or relative construct that has no independent external reality but is accepted for practical purposes, such as a meter or other units of measurement., it does not require an illa-i tāmmaA complete and sufficient cause or condition that necessarily brings about its effect. for its existence. If an illa-i tāmmaA complete and sufficient cause or condition that necessarily brings about its effect. exists, the effect necessarily follows. This means that no room remains for free will, because the effect then occurs necessarily and inevitably.

If most of the conditions of the illa-i tāmmaA complete and sufficient cause or condition that necessarily brings about its effect. for an amr-i itibārīA conceptual or relative construct that has no independent external reality but is accepted for practical purposes, such as a meter or other units of measurement. appear, this amr-i itibārīA conceptual or relative construct that has no independent external reality but is accepted for practical purposes, such as a meter or other units of measurement. may exert influence. For example, when the Qur’an says to man at that moment, “This is evil; do not do it,” man can choose to refrain from it.

Indeed, if the servant were the creator of his own actions and had the power to create, his free will would cease to exist. For according to the principle

مَالَمْ يَجِبْ لَمْ يُوجَدْThat which has not become necessary does not come into existence.

within Ilm al-Usūl wal-HikmahThe science of methodology and wisdom., something does not come into existence unless its existence becomes necessary. Thus, something can exist only when an illa-i tāmmaA complete and sufficient cause or condition that necessarily brings about its effect. is present. As for the illa-i tāmmaA complete and sufficient cause or condition that necessarily brings about its effect., it necessarily requires the existence of the effect, leaving no room for free will.

The claim, “A preference without a reason for that preference is impossible,” is one of the fundamental principles of the methodology of Ilm al-kalāmThe Islamic discipline that studies and defends the truths of faith within the framework of Islamic principles. . However, man’s free will, which we describe as an amr-i itibārīA conceptual or relative construct that has no independent external reality but is accepted for practical purposes, such as a meter or other units of measurement., may choose either to do something or not to do it. If there is no reason for that preference, man’s free will may still prefer one option over the other, even though there is no difference between the two. Yet this claim appears to contradict that fundamental principle of the methodology of ilm al-kalāmThe Islamic discipline that studies and defends the truths of faith within the framework of Islamic principles..

The answer: A preference without one who prefers is impossible. Without a cause that brings about preference, there can be no preference. However, a preference without a compelling reason for that preference is possible and does in fact occur. For will is an attribute, and the nature of this attribute is to make a choice, even without absolute necessity.