Do you really make your fate?
Last Friday the Islamic Center of Muncie hosted a group of BallState students. Professor Elizabeth Agnew and her class listened toa brief introduction to Islam and what it stands for.
The concept of fate in Islam was among the raised issues.Discussing the different points related to this subject was noteasy. Here, I'm introducing what Muslims think about fate.
The term "Alqadar" is the Arabic term for fate. It is defined as"the ability of Allah; where he knew, wrote, willed and created allthings in due proportion and according to a precise measure."Muslims believe that Allah knew that all things will happen beforebringing them to existence and in accordance with predestinedproportions and measures.
According to Prophet Muhammad, your faith is not perfect untilyou believe in Alqadar, and accept as true that what has befallenyou was not going to pass you by, and what has passed you by wasnot going to befall you.
In order to gain full and correct understanding of thecomplicated issue of Alqadar, one should be familiar with theelements that constitute the doctrine of Alqadar. The first elementis knowledge.
Through this element Muslims believe that their Lord, Allah,knows everything about his creation, even before he created them.Allah's Knowledge compasses everything. He knew what had occurred,what will occur and all that did not occur.
The Second element in believing in Alqadar is "the Writing."This element maintains that Allah wrote everything about hiscreation: their livelihood, provision, lifespans, deeds, etc. Thefollowing verse clarifies this point: "Do you not know, that Allahknows all that is in the heaven and in the earth? Verily! It is allin the Book. Verily! That is easy for Allah" (Quran, 22: 70).
The Will of Allah is the third element. Basically it is thebelief that Allah has willed everything that goes on in theuniverse. His will and his pre-ordaining power effectively covereverything. Whatever he wills will occur and whatever he does notwill will never take place.
The Fourth element of Alqadar is the Creation. Allah is the solecreator of everything, including man's deeds. "Verily! Allah is theCreator of everything, and he is the Guardian over all things"(Quran, 39: 62).
However, at the same time Islam believes that every human beingis responsible for his or her actions. It is you who make your ownchoices and therefore you are held accountable for what you do.
Throughout the history of humanity people debated whether humanshave free will or not and whether humans are responsible for theiractions or not. There was a strong ancient intellectual trendendorsed by Plato and Parmenides that "nothing changes, there is nobecoming, and eternal truth resides in immutable ideas." At theother extreme there is the ideology that "we are free insofar as wemay do as we wish without hindrance or constraint."
Islam represents a middle ground between the two extremes. Ifyou chose to park your car the wrong way and receive a parkingticket as the result, who is responsible? It is you who made thedecision and did the act.
However, this action must have been through the four stagesexplained above. Thus, God knew in advance about it, wrote it inyour book of deeds, willed it for you and made it happen.
Write to Fahad at fahad765@yahoo.com
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