Qadar (Divine Determining)

Third Topic

Indeed, the ordered writings and well-ordered verses of this book of the universe testify that everything is written. The proof that everything is determined and recorded before it exists lies in seeds, measures, and forms; all of them testify to this.

For every seed and germ is like a subtle treasury woven by the divine workshop of “kāf-nūn.” A concise index has been inscribed in them by Qadar. Allah’s power employs the atoms according to the record of each one’s Qadar and builds great miracles upon these tiny seeds.

It follows that the entire tree, together with all its future events, is in essence already recorded in the seed. For materially, all seeds are simple and identical; there is no material difference between them.

Moreover, the orderly measure of everything clearly shows the existence of Qadar. Indeed, whatever living being one looks at, one sees that it has a specific measure, form, and shape, as though it had emerged from an extremely wise and artistically fashioned mold. In order to receive this measure, form, and shape, there would either have to be a miraculous, extremely irregular and crooked material mold, or the eternal power of Allah clothes that being in that shape and form through a precisely measured spiritual mold that comes from Qadar.

For example, look carefully at this tree or this animal. The lifeless, deaf, blind, and unconscious atoms, which are exactly alike, move in its growth and development. At certain irregular and crooked boundaries they stop, as though they recognize, see, and understand the place and function of the fruit. Elsewhere they then change their course, as though pursuing a great purpose. This shows that the atoms act according to the spiritual measure that comes from Qadar and that their movement is directed by its command.

Since Qadar manifests so strongly in material and visible things, it is self-evident that the forms things assume over time, and the states that arise from their movements, are also subject to an ordered system of Qadar.

Indeed, in a seed there are two kinds of manifestations of Qadar. The first is the evident Qadar, which refers to the tangible qualities, physical condition, and forms of the tree that are contained in the seed and will later become visible. This manifestation points to Kitāb-i Mubīn. The second is the conceptual Qadar, which refers to the subtle, unseen laws and commands of divine knowledge and points to Imām-i Mubīn.

The evident Qadar includes the material qualities, states, and forms of the tree that are contained in the seed and will later become visible. The conceptual Qadar, however, is the well-ordered program in the seed, in which the stages, states, forms, movements, and glorifications of the tree that will be created from the seed are recorded throughout its lifetime. These continually changing stages, states, forms, and actions, which are called its “life history,” follow an ordered, preordained measure, just like the branches and leaves of that tree, which grow according to a preordained measure.

Since the manifestation of Qadar is so clearly visible even in the simplest and most ordinary things, it is evident that everything has already been recorded before it comes into existence. This is easily understood with a little attention.

As for the proof that the life course of everything is recorded after its passing, all fruits — which point to both Kitāb-i Mubīn and Imām-i Mubīn — and human memory, which points to Lawh-i Mahfūz, serve as signs and witnesses to this.