Nitham - Ch 1 - 2 - Submission 02

Chapter 2 Al Qadha Wal Qadar Major Points concerning Al-Qadha Wal Qadar What it doesn’t concern Three Greek influenced Muslim Philosophical groups (Ilmu Al Kalam) argued that the actions of man are either: 1. Free due to free will (Mutazillah) as also known as Ahlul ‘ahd wal ‘adl. It is believed that this group placed reasons above of all others; i.e. minds and the texts of the qur’an. Many aqeedah’s discussions happened at that time. One of the well known leaders was Wasil ibn ‘Atha (Hasan al Basri’s student). Following are their beliefs: a. Allah does not have attributes distinct from His essence. i.e. His attributes and essence is the same. They used logic to explain why; essentially if His attributes were distinct from His essence, then they would also be eternal, able to create, thus there would be more than one creator – can’t be…) b. The Qur’an wa created : The Qur’an is the speech of Allah; it is made up of letters which are arranged and sequenced into existence, and every speech which is made up of letters which are arranged and sequenced into existence is recent(i.e. has beginning/limited) This was in response to the argument that the Quran says that Jesus is the word of Allah, therefore Jesus is not created and is god. c. That seeing Allah is not possible in this world and hereafter; because this requires that He (swt) have a place and direction which is not possible for the Creator. d. Man creates his actions: Since God is just, and justice can only be if it is man that is in full control of his actions, which requires that man be the creator of them. e. The perpetrator of the serious sin is neither a believer nor a disbeliever, but is somewhere in between, and that one who commits a grave sin goes to hell forever if he dies unrepentant. He is not a true believer since a true believer does not commit major sins. The punishment meted out however will be moderate since he is right in his belief. Verses used to support this were the likes of: “for any that disobey God and His Messenger, for them is hell, they shall dwell therein forever.” 2. Compelled with no choice (Jabariyah) 3. Free and compelled (Ahlul Sunnah); in two views: a. Ash’ari (Orthodox view) was led by Hasan al ‘Ash’ari in Basrah Baghdad. It follows Imam Hanbal. The main beliefs in contrast to the mu’tazilah are: i. Allah (swt) has eternal attributes but they are not He not other than He (la huwa wala ghruhu) for example; kindness is an attribute of Fatimah, however, it is not a part of her essence, but it is also not separate from her. The Ash’ari creed states that these attributes are not to be understood in their literal sense (unlike the anthropomorphist) but are to be believed in bila kaifa wa bila tashbih, i.e. without asking “how” and without drawing any comparison. ii. The Quran is not created. Against the mu’tazilah, they stated that although words and sounds are temporal, the Quran is its meaning is uncreated and eternal. iii. It is possible to see Allah (swt) in the hereafter: The manner of which we do not understand. They went on to explain this in some detail, stating things like “it is possible to see an object even if it is not present before the

perceiver.” That is, it is possible for Allah to create the capacity in humans to see Him without the necessary conditions of vision. iv. God is the creator of mans actions, since He is the only one that can create something out of nothing. God brings the action into existence when man has decided and intended the action through his derived power. Hence the concept of kasb (acquisition). God is the creator (khaliq) of human actions and man is the aquisitor (muktasib). v. The p0erpetrator of a grave sin is still a Muslim and will be saved from hell eventually. vi. The Ash’arites differs from the Mu’taziliates on the question of whether reason or revelation should be the basis or source of truth and reality: Both the schools admit the necessity of reason for the rational understanding of faith, but they differ with regard to the question of whether reason or revelation is to get preference. The Mu’tazilites held that reason is more fundamental than revelation and is to be preferred to revelation. Revelation merely confirms what is accepted by reason and, if there be a conflict between the two, reasons is to be dictates of reason. The Ash’arites, on the other hand, held that revelation is more fundamental as the source of ultimate truth and reality, and reason should merely confirm what is given by revelation. The Ash’arites prefers revelation to reason in case of a conflict between the two. b. Ahlul Sunnah (Maturidi); It was let by Aboo Al Maturidi during the 238 H in central Asia Al Samakan in the Town named Maturi. It is observed to be the follower of Imam Abu Hanifa. Their methods are mainly refer to senses, Al Khabar(report) and mind. Following are their main beliefs: i. The verses of the Quran which mention face, hand should not be taken in the apparent sense, since the literal interpretation contradicts the explicit verses in the Quran. These passages should be interpreted in light of the explicit verses of tanzih (freedom of similitude) and in a manner consistent with tauhid and the understanding of the Arabs (usage in Arabic language), or their true meanings should be left to the knowledge of Allah. ii. Issue of Al-qada’ wal qadar: As well as disagreeing with the Mu’tazillah and the Jabriyyah, he also differed on some points with al Ash’ari. He asserts that reality states that man is free to think, derire, inclines, chooses and acts as he likes and always considers himself free and nothing compels him. Furthermore, Allah decrees the act He knows that a man will choose and acquire freely. All creation belongs to Allah, including human actions. iii. Seeing Allah swt in the hereafter will happen. He states that based on the language and spirit of the verses as well as the sunnah, it does not allow us to take them metaphorically as the mu’tazillah did. He explains it by saying that the seeing in paradise can not be compared to vision of a material object in this world. The vision of Allah in the hereafter is of the highest reward and we must accept it without going into details. Basically they argued their opinions and used verses from Al Quran and Hadith to support: 1. Man creates his actions 2. Allah creates his actions 3. Allah knows what our actions will be (ilmullah) 4. Allah wills man to act (iraadatullah) 5. Allah has decreed man to act for it is written in Al lawh Al Mahfooz (Divine Decree or Register)

The subject of Qadha wal Qadar should not be based upon these points for they are not related to the matter of man and his actions i.e. is man compelled to perform an action, good or bad, or does he have a choice. The FACTS Actions of man fall into two spheres: 1. The sphere in which man has no control over his actions; a. Universal Laws i.e. rising of the sun, physical urges, weather patterns etc. b. Actions outside the first area that he can not control; e.g. car hits you, wall falls upon you, accidents beyond your control. All actions that occur with in these two areas in the first sphere are termed al Qadaa i.e. Allah has predetermined all actions within this area and Allah only knows whether they are good or bad. 2. The sphere in which he has control; Involves him freely choosing a system that he can follow. Allah’s shariah or others will direct him with his actions that he is free to perform like talking, walking, using objects like steel or wood to kill, cook etc. If a muslim uses Allah’s shariah to guide his behaviors then his actions are considered bad if they use other laws. The issue of Qadar Allah has created objects like wood, steel and instincts within humans and alongside these objects. He has also created attributes within them. E.g. wood has the attribute to burn, steel has the attribute to cut, the procreational instinct has the attribute of sexual inclination, motherhood and fatherhood. Thus, Qadar is then known as the attributes within objects, also includes organic needs and instincts. Hence, the issue of Al qadha wal qadar is therefore concerning two areas: 1. Actions. 2. Attributes of objects, organic needs and instincts.

QADHA

MAN’S ACTIONS

SPHERE THAT DOMINATES MAN *Within the law of universe *man is forced *complete submission to Allah SWT

ATTRIBUTES OF OBJECTS ALLAH SWT CREATED, INCLUDING; ORGANIC NEEDS AND INSTINCTS

QADAR

SPHERE THAT MAN DOMINATES

MAN IS FREE TO CHOOSE

*not within the law of universe *beyond man’s control-man initiates *fall on him against his will *unavoidable

NO HISAB

HISAB

*be patient *leave it to Allah SWT *When there is a choice, try to change it from bad to good

*choose according to what Islam says

ALWAYS TO CHOOSE THE BEST ACCORDING TO WHAT ISLAM SAYS AND TAWAKKAL (COMPLETE SUBMISSION TO ALLAH)