Pre Destination

Divine Decree in Islam (Qadar)

By Sami Zaatari

One fundamental belief in Islam is that of divine decree, which if you want you can also call pre-destiny. It is the belief that all things have already been decreed beforehand, before Allah created us, and that it has all already been written down and recorded.

The evidence for divine decree is found throughout the Quran and hadiths, hence any Muslim who does not believe in divine decree is not even a Muslim.

Let us first quote the evidences from the Quran and hadiths that prove that divine decree is indeed a reality:

Sahih Muslim:

Book 001, Number 0001:

It is narrated on the authority of Yahya b. Ya'mur that the first man who discussed about Qadr (Divine Decree) in Basra was Ma'bad al-Juhani. I along with Humaid b. 'Abdur-Rahman Himyari set out for prilgrimage or for 'Umrah and said: Should it so happen that we come into contact with one of the Companions of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) we shall ask him a bout what is talked about Taqdir (Division Decree). Accidentally we came across Abdullah ibn Umar ibn al-Khattab, while he was entering the mosque. My companion and I surrounded him. One of us (stood) on his right and the other stood on his left. I expected that my companion would authorize me to speak. I therefore said: Abu Abdur Rahman! there have appeared some people in our land who recite the Holy Qur'an and pursue knowledge. And then after talking about their affairs, added: They (such people) claim that there is no such thing as Divine Decree and events are not predestined. He (Abdullah ibn Umar) said: When you happen to meet such people tell them that I have nothing to do with them and they have nothing to do with me. And verily they are in no way responsible for my (belief). Abdullah ibn Umar swore by Him (the Lord) (and said): If any one of them (who does not believe in the Divine Decree) had with him gold equal to the bulk of (the mountain) Uhud and then, it (in the way of Allah), Allah would not accept it unless he affirmed his faith in Divine Decree. He further said: My father, Umar ibn al-Khattab, told me: One day we were sitting in the company of Allah's Apostle (peace be upon him) when there appeared before us a man dressed in pure white clothes, his hair extraordinarily black. There were no signs of travel on him. None amongst us recognized him. At last he sat with the Apostle (peace be upon him) He knelt before him placed his palms on his thighs and said: Muhammad, inform me about al-Islam. The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said: Al-Islam implies that you testify that there is no god but Allah and that Muhammad is the messenger of Allah, and you establish prayer, pay Zakat, observe the fast of Ramadan, and perform pilgrimage to the (House) if you are solvent enough (to bear the expense of) the journey. He (the inquirer) said: You have told the truth. He (Umar ibn al-Khattab) said: It amazed us that he would put the question and then he would himself verify the truth. He (the inquirer) said: Inform me about Iman (faith). He (the Holy Prophet) replied: That you affirm your faith in Allah, in His angels, in His Books, in His Apostles, in the Day of Judgment, and you affirm your faith in the Divine Decree about good and evil. He (the inquirer) said: You have told the truth. He (the inquirer) again said: Inform me about al-Ihsan (performance of good deeds). He (the Holy Prophet) said: That you worship Allah as if you are seeing Him, for though you don't see Him, He, verily, sees you. He (the enquirer) again said: Inform me about the hour (of the Doom). He (the Holy Prophet) remarked: One who is asked knows no more than the one who is inquiring (about it). He (the inquirer) said: Tell me some of its indications. He (the Holy Prophet) said: That the slave-girl will give birth to her mistress and master, that you will find barefooted, destitute goat-herds vying with one another in the construction of magnificent buildings. He (the narrator, Umar ibn al-Khattab) said: Then he (the inquirer) went on his way but I stayed with him (the Holy Prophet) for a long while. He then, said to me: Umar, do you know who this inquirer was? I replied: Allah and His Apostle knows best. He (the Holy Prophet) remarked: He was Gabriel (the angel). He came to you in order to instruct you in matters of religion.

So as you can see from this hadith, two Muslims approached a companion of the prophet Muhammad, and they wanted to inquire about divine decree, they informed the companions that some Muslims denied this belief, and Ibn Umar immediately distanced himself from these people, saying he has nothing at all to do with this deviant wrong belief.

The hadith then goes on to quote the prophet speaking about faith, the prophet stated that part of faith is to believe in divine decree, the good and bad of it, hence as you can see divine decree is something that is very real, and something the companions of the prophet believed in.

There is more evidence for divine decree:

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YUSUFALI: Knowest thou not that Allah knows all that is in heaven and on earth? Indeed it is all in a Record, and that is easy for Allah.

Here Allah says he knows everything that is in the heavens and on the earth, and that it is all recorded. Ibn Kathirs Tafsir for this verse writes:

Allah tells us how perfect is His knowledge of His creation, and that He encompasses all that is in the heavens and on earth.

Not even the weight of a speck of dust, or less than that or greater escapes His knowledge in the heavens or in the earth. He knows all things even before they happen, and He has written that in His Book, Al-Lawh Al-Mahfuz, as was reported in Sahih Muslim from `Abdullah bin `Amr, who said, "The Messenger of Allah said:

«إِنَّ اللهَ قَدَّرَ مَقَادِيرَ الْخَلَائِقِ قَبْلَ خَلْقِ السَّموَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ بِخَمْسِينَ أَلْفَ سَنَةٍ، وَكَانَ عَرْشُهُ عَلَى الْمَاء»

(Allah issued His decrees concerning the measurement and due proportion of the creatures fifty thousand years before He created the heavens and the earth, and His Throne was over the water.) In the Sunan, it was reported from a group of the Companions that the Messenger of Allah said:

«أَوَّلُ مَا خَلَقَ اللهُ الْقَلَمُ، قَالَ لَهُ: اكْتُبْ، قَالَ: وَ مَا أَكْتُبُ؟ قَالَ: اكْتُبْ مَا هُوَ كَائِنٌ، فَجَرَى الْقَلَمُ بِمَا هُوَ كَائِنٌ إِلَى يَوْمِ الْقِيَامَة»

(The first thing that Allah created was the Pen. He said to it, "Write!'' It said, "What should I write'' He said, "Write what will happen,'' so the Pen wrote everything that will happen until the Day of Resurrection.)

As you see Allah knew everything before they happened, and wrote them down in a book that is preserved in the heavens, this book is separate from the Quran itself.

So now since the proof of divine decree is evident within Islam, one must then grasp a correct understanding of this belief. The Ahlus Sunnah have agreed in 4 correct ways of believing in this belief and they are as follows:

Knowledge (to believe): It is to know and firmly believe and have faith in the fact that Allah knows everything, he is aware of everything, nothing is hidden from him, nor is he ignorant of anything at all.

The Recording: A Muslim must also believe that Allah has indeed recorded everything before they have happened, in a preserved book that is in the heavens, we have already quoted the proof of this.

The Will: We also believe that nothing happens against the will of Allah, and that all that happens happens by the will of Allah, nothing is out of his control, he is control of all things and actions. All existence happens with the will of Allah, and all that doesn't exist basically the non-existence occurs by the will of Allah.

The Creation: We believe that Allah created everything, the reason why this is an important factor is for instance, when we act on desires, such as love, anger, sadness, and so on. All these feelings and desires have been created by Allah, we choose to act on these desires and so on, yet Allah created them, he created such feelings which allow us to act on them, they don't come from nowhere.

Now since some people do sometimes get confused by this topic I shall try to make it easier for some people, I will bring up some common questions that are usually brought up with this topic, and then I shall proceed to answer it.

However so before doing this, let me try to make things even more simple for you, for instance right now I am writing this article, however so I believe in divine decree, this means that Allah already knew what I was going to write before I wrote it, and Allah already had it recorded down in a book, and in fact Allah already had this action of mine written and recorded before I was even created. However so, I myself have chosen to write this article, although Allah already knew what I was going to write, and already had it recorded, it does not negate my free will since I was not forced to write, rather I chose to write it of my own will. Now even though I have written this with my own free will, I am still acting on Allah's will, because it his only by his will that I am able to write this, it is not out of his control.

With that said let us bring up some common questions which come up with this topic:

Q: If everything is pre-ordained and already decreed, then where is the free choice and will?

A: As I already said, divine decree does not negate free will, you are not forced into doing something, you make that choice, however so we believe Allah is all knowing do we not? Off course, hence since he is all-knowing he knows everything, before and after, and since he already knew what we would do because of his infinite knowledge, he has recorded it down already; he does not need to wait for you to do something to be able to know what happens.

Q: If everything is pre-ordained and so on why do we get punished for sins, since it is already pre-decreed, hence how do we get the blame and fault?

A: Once again, pre-decree does not negate free will and choice, now having said that; let us give an example for this situation. Say a man comes up to you and he gives you two options, one is a job that will make you rich and will make you fruitful till the day you die. Option 2 is that he gives you a job that will bankrupt you, earn you no money and will cause you heartache till the day you die. Logically you will choose option one right? Off course, you wouldn't choose option 2 knowing the bad consequences and problems it will cause to you. In Islam you have the same thing and more, Allah has made it crystal clear to you in the Quran about good and evil, he has made it clear to you on how to act and what to believe in, and if you go by his rulings you will be successful. Allah has also made it clear to you if you choose some other way than his, that you will be unsuccessful in the hereafter, hence logically which one will you choose? Will you choose the bad or the good? You will choose the good! Hence you are completely to blame for your sins, since Allah does not force you to it, he has already given you the choice, hence when you commit evil you cannot say but Allah has pre-decreed it for me so I have simply acted on his all knowing knowledge! This is wrong; the only thing you have acted on is your own flimsy sinful desires and have though to justify it by Allah's infinite knowledge.

Q: If Allah already knew everything before he created mankind and everything, why didn't he just judge us then, why wait for billions and billions of years?

A: He has not judged us yet because he is fair, why would Allah judge and throw you into hell when you have not acted or done anything? It would be illogical to do so, to judge and throw you into hell before you even act or do anything. Just because Allah knows what you will do and has recorded it down he still creates you and waits till you die because that is the logical and fair way, he allows and gives you a choice, to live, and to act, and you yourself don't know Allah's qadar, hence he is being just and merciful to his created humans. People forget that Allah is all-merciful, and this is exactly why he doesn't judge you before you even do anything.

Secondly, as I earlier said it would be illogical to judge and throw man into hell and heaven before they are even created. By allowing man to live, and act on his desires from the good and the bad it leaves man with no excuse in the here-after, because in the here-after it will be the man who is at fault for what lies ahead of him, he will not be able to say "but I never had a chance on earth, so give me a chance please before you judge me, I have not done anything yet"! Man will not be able to make such excuses now because he is the one responsible for himself and what he does, and even having said that although man is responsible for what he does, he still not out of Allah's control since Allah is in control of everything and everything happens only by his will.

These are the 3 most common questions that usually arise up, I could go on to list so many, because so many questions can be made for this topic, however so the questions are un-neccassasory. A Muslim should not delve into issues that will merely make him confused which will make him fall right into the hands of satan, a Muslim should simply affirm divine decree, believe in it in the correct way, with the 4 points I have listed, and leave at that since there is no more benefit than this.

And Allah Knows Best and I submit myself to his qadar!