Fate decree, free will, dua supplication
Mu' meneen Brothers
and Sisters,
As Salaam Aleikum wa
Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh. (May Allah's Peace, Mercy and Blessings be
upon all of you)
One of our
brothers/sisters has asked this question:
Dear Brother
Burhan,
Assalamu Alaikum,
I am in receipt of
you three e-mails namely question nos. 230 - 1468, 9070 and 329 in reply to my
question regarding Fate / Free Will / and Duaa, Jazaka Allah. Thank you very
much for your kind reply. You have taken Great pain in explaining the subject.
How ever it still does not clear my understanding. Hence I would like to put to
you same questions in a different and more direct way as follows:
1. Fate / Destiny
- what are the activities / items / deeds which are written before a person is
born?
2. Free Will -
which are activities / items / deeds a person can choose of his free will? and
will Allah (SWT) not stop the person from choosing a particular thing if He
(SWT) Wills?
3. Duaa - Part of
activities / items / deeds in the life of a person are written in his fate.
Remaining he is going to choose of his free will.
Then what is the
significance of Duaa? Is Duaa going to change the fate?
For clarification
I will give one example:
Rizq / Livelihood
of a person is written in his fate, that is how much One is going to get, when
and from where. If it is so then how is he responsible for if the source is
Haram or Halal? How much is the involvement of his Free Will?
I hope you will
feel offended by my above probing.
May Allah bless us
with better understanding of his Words and bless us With
better following
of Sunnah of Prophet (SAS).
Jazakumullah
Khair.
Best Regards,
(There may be some
grammatical and spelling errors in the above statement. The forum does not
change anything from questions, comments and statements received from our
readers for circulation in confidentiality.)
Answer:
Fate decree, free
will, dua supplication
In the name of Allah, We praise
Him, seek His help and ask for His forgiveness. Whoever Allah guides none
can misguide, and whoever He allows to fall astray, none can guide them aright.
We bear witness that there is no one (no idol,
no person, no grave, no
prophet, no imam, no dai,
nobody!) worthy of worship but Allah Alone, and we bear witness that
Muhammad(saws) is His slave-servant and the seal of His Messengers.
We
sincerely apologize for not being able to clarify your questions to your
satisfaction, and none is to blame
except my own shortcomings. Beloved
brother, Islam is such a wide ocean of
knowledge, that it becomes practically
impossible for us to cover all aspects of the questions asked in a short
article of a couple of pages. Thus
when a brother or sister asks a general question, we normally tend to give a general reply; and when a brother or sister asks a specific
question, we tend to give specific
answers. We absolutely accept and
admit our weakness and our shortcomings,
and sincerely seek your understanding and forgiveness as your brothers
and well-wishers in Islam.
May Allah Subhanah increase your
quest for the knowledge of Truth,
expand your and our hearts to accept the Guidance, help us,
guide us, have mercy upon us, forgive us our short comings, and save you, us and all the believers from the torment of the Hell Fire. Ameen.
Q-1. Fate / Destiny -
what are the activities / items / deeds which are written before a person is
born?
Sahih Al-Bukhari
Hadith 1.315 Narrated by Anas bin
Malik
The Prophet (saws)
said, "At every womb Allah appoints an Angel who says, 'O Lord! A drop of
semen, O Lord! A clot. O Lord! A little lump of flesh." Then if Allah wishes (to complete) its
creation, the Angel asks, (O Lord!) Will it be a male or female, a wretched or a blessed, and how much will his provision be? And what
will his age be?' So all that is
written while the child is still in the mother's womb."
In light of the above
narration, four things are
predetermined:
We would just like to clarify
here what is the actual reality of Fate or Destiny. To get a fuller
understanding of Fate, it can be
divided into two parts:
Part-1: One part of Fate is things over which the
person has absolutely no control. For
example, the three points in the above
hadith: Whether one will be born male
or female, what will his provision
be, and what day, date and place one will die. These are the Decisions of Allah Subhanah
Alone, and no matter how much a person
makes supplication to Allah Subhanah,
he cannot change his sex from male to female, or change his appointment with death, etc.
Part-2: The second part of fate is not a Decision or
Decree from Allah Subhanah, but is the
knowledge of the All-Knowing, All-Wise
Lord. For example, it is written down before one is born
whether he will be a good or evil person!
It is not as if Allah Subhanah is (I seek refuge in Allah from saying
this) unjust, and has already condemned
someone to be evil, so he has to become
evil!!! Because Allah Subhanah is the
All Knowing, He already knows from His
Absolute Knowledge and Wisdom, what the
person with the given free will and intelligence will do in the future; and thus what is written is not a Decision
from Allah Subhanah, but is written
because of the Absolute and Perfect Knowledge of Allah Subhanah.
Q-2 A. Free Will -
which are activities / items / deeds a person can choose of his free will? and
will Allah (SWT) not stop the person from choosing a particular thing if He
(SWT) Wills?
Allah Subhanah has given mankind
(and Jinns) two things which he has not given any amongst His creation:
And these are precisely the
things for which Allah Subhanah will take account from each individual on the
Day of Judgement. Any person who, with his given faculty of intelligence
strives and seeks the Straight Path and of his own Free Will accepts, obeys and follows it, will be rewarded by Allah Subhanah. The person who with his given faculty of
intelligence and power of reasoning denies the ordained Straight Path of Allah
Subhanah, and of his own free will rejects it,
will have a severe accounting on that Inevitable Day.
Anything or any deed a person
does which involves his own intelligence and the making of a choice, or an
intention or an effort to do the deed,
will be considered a deed done of his own free will; and thus he will have to account for it in
the Just Court of Allah Subhanah.
For example, these deeds will be considered from one’s
Free Will:
And the things over which one
has absolutely no control and no choice,
Allah Subhanah will not question him about these things on the Day of
Judgement.
For example, these are some of the things a person will
not be held accountable for in the Court of Allah Subhanah:
Q-2B: and will Allah (SWT) not stop the person
from choosing a particular thing if He (SWT) Wills?
Every thing that happens in this
Universe happens with the Permission and Will of Allah Subhanah. The only free will one has is to make an
intention to do a good or evil deed,
and strive and make efforts to fulfill that intention; and that is precisely what he will be held
accountable for. The outcome of the
effort is in the Sole Control and Domain of Allah Subhanah.
For example, if a person of his own free will intends to
build a hospital or an orphanage, etc. to earn the Pleasure of Allah
Subhanah, and strives his utmost in
fulfilling that intention; he will
receive a full reward from Allah Subhanah,
whether or not the building of the hospital or orphanage is completed or
not.
Similarly, if a person of his own free will, intends to kill someone, and subsequently does all in his power to kill
the person; whether or not the victim
is actually murdered, the person will
have a severe accounting in the Court of Allah Subhanah, unless he seeks repentance before his
appointment of death.
Allah Subhanah does not stop the
person making the intention, or from striving to make efforts to fulfill that
intention; and that is precisely the
test for which mankind will be held accountable for. Whether or not the striving of the person comes to actual
fruitation, is in the Sole Control and
Domain of Allah Subhanah.
Sahih Al-Bukhari
Hadith 1.51 Narrated by Umar bin Al
Khattab
The Messenger of Allah (saws) said, "The reward of deeds
depends upon the intentions, and every person will get the reward according to
what he has intended.”
Q-3A: Duaa - Part of activities / items / deeds
in the life of a person are written in his fate. Remaining he is going to
choose of his free will.Then what is the significance of Duaa? Is Duaa going to
change the fate?
The significance of ‘duaa’ or
supplication is a sign of the person’s declaration of helplessness and humility
in the presence of his Merciful Lord and Creator; for one, in humility and in hope, only beseeches and begs someone, when he knows that the Being he is
beseeching and begging has the Power to fulfill his supplications. And it is this declaration of weakness, helplessness,
and humility which is so loved and appreciated by Allah Subhanah from His
believing slaves. Allah Subhanah does
not love those people who do not beseech Him for their needs, because in their
arrogance they falsely think that they are self-sufficient!
So much so, that the Messenger
of Allah (saws) called act of duaa or supplication itself as ‘ibaadah’ or
worship!
Nu'man b. Bashir
reported that the Prophet (saws) said, "Verily Duaa (supplication) is
worship." Then he (saws) recited the Qur'anic verse, "And your Lord says,
'Call on Me. I will answer your prayer, but those who are too arrogant to serve
me will surely find themselves humiliated in Hell!'' Qur'an 40.60.
This is reported by
Ahmad and Sunan.
Q-3B: Is Duaa going to change the fate?
This
is indeed a very very intelligent and weighty question, and due to my own short coming, I might not be able to do justice to your
question in print; but if Allah
Subhanah helps us, we will try our best
to prove the point, Insha Allah.
The honest truth of the matter
is that the ‘duaa’ will not actually change the fate of the person, for the
Duaa is indeed part of the fate!
Allah Subhanah knows what trials
and tribulations will be laid upon the person; for all Allah Subhanah wants to
see when He tries a person is what is the person’s reaction, belief, and the deeds done in the face of these
tribulations. The trial of the person
is for a limited time ordained by Allah Subhanah, and when the ordained time
passes, the trial is lifted. The
belief, the reaction of the person who was in trial, and the deeds he did
during his period of trial are what will determine whether the person passed the
test ordained by Allah Subhanah, or failed it; and these deeds will earn the
person his due rewards or his due punishments!
If the person who was put on a
trial by Allah Subhanah stays steadfast and patient in his belief in the Power
and Authority of His Lord, shows patience and forbearance during his time of
trial, seeks only the help and support of Allah Subhanah, and thus constantly
ONLY beseeches Allah Subhanah Alone to make his trial easy for him; he will
pass the test and earn huge rewards from Allah Subhanah for his reaction to his
trial.
But if the person who was put on
a trial by Allah Subhanah, loses hope in his Lord and starts knocking on every
available door: graves, other gods, idols, amulets, stars, sooth-sayers,
astrologists, charms, etc.!, instead of the One and Only True Lord, he miserably fails the test ordained by
Allah Subhanah and will thus have a severe accounting for his deeds on the Day
of Resurrection!
The trial of both types of
people will be lifted at the time Decreed by Allah Subhanah, whether the person afflicted with the trial
seeks the help of Allah Subhanah Alone,
or whether he seeks the help of any of his false deities! The difference is that the person who keeps
his faith and hope firm in Allah Subhanah Alone, Allah will make the acceptance
of the trial easy for him, give him peace and tranquility and patience and
steadfastness; and for the person who loses hopes in Allah Subhanah Alone, and
thus goes to other deities and demi-gods with his supplications, Allah Subhanah
will take away his peace and tranquility and increase his anxiety!
But the trial will end only at
the time Decreed and Ordained by Allah Subhanah for both types of people, whether
they do duaa to Allah Subhanah Alone or not!
It is not as if Allah Subhanah
does not know the affliction or calamity about to befall a person, and when the
calamity suddenly afflicts a person and he makes dua and supplication to Allah
Subhanah to remove his affliction, a sudden change of plans are made and Allah
Subhanah expedites the end of the trial from him!
The trial befalls the person as
a test ordained from Allah Subhanah,
for a period ordained and Decreed by Allah Subhanah, and will end at the time ordained by Allah
Subhanah! The All-Knowing Lord already knows that so and so person will keep
his faith firm in Him, supplicate Him Alone, and the trial will be lifted at
its ordained time! The All Knowing
Lord also knows that so and so person will lose hope in Him, supplicate all and
sundry to remove his trial, and Allah will remove the trial at its exact
appointed time!
The difference being, the one
who kept his faith firm passed the test ordained by Allah; and the one who lost hope in Allah
Alone, failed the test miserably!
Three things a person does when
afflicted by a trial ordained by Allah Subhanah will enable him to pass the
test. If he misses any one of the
three, which are no more than the offshoots of one another, he will invariably fail the test!
Thus dua or supplications is an
integral part of the test, and one that
will determine whether a person passes or fails the test ordained by Allah
Subhanah.
Q-4A: For clarification I will give one example:
Rizq / Livelihood of a person is written in his fate, that
is how much one is going to get, when and from where. If it is so then how is
he responsible for if the source is Haram or Halal? How much is the involvement
of his Free Will?
Indeed, the amount of Rizk or sustenance of a person
is written by Divine Decree, and the
distribution of wealth is entirely,
completely, and totally
dependant on the Will of Allah Subhanah.
Allah Subhanah Says in
the Holy Quran Chapter 17 Surah Israa verse 30: Verily thy Lord doth provide ‘rizk’
(sustenance) in abundance for whom He pleaseth, and He provideth in a just measure: for He doth know and regard all His servants.
Allah Subhanah Says in
the Holy Quran Chapter 13 Surah Raad verse 26: Allah doth enlarge or grant by (strict)
measure the ‘rizk’ (sustenance which He giveth) to whom so He pleaseth. (The worldly) rejoice in the life of this
world: but the life of this world is
but little comfort in the Hereafter.
The person has absolutely no control on HOW MUCH
rizk will be distributed to him from Allah Subhanah; what he can do of his own free will is two things, and this is what he will be called to
account for on the Day of Judgement:
Ref-1: Of his own free will, he can make earning his ‘rizk’ halaal or haraam.
Example 1: It has been
recorded that Hadrat Ali ibn Abi Taalib (r.a.) once went towards a mosque to
pray. He saw a slave man in the street
and asked him to guard his horse while he went into the mosque to pray. When Hadrat Ali (r.a.) had finished his
prayer, while coming out he made an
intention to reward the slave two dirhams for guarding his horse;
but when he came out of the mosque,
the horse was still there, but
the slave, the saddle, and the reins were missing! Hadrat Ali (r.a.) went towards the market
place and saw his very saddle and rein displayed in a shop and told the
shop-owner that the saddle and the reins
belonged to him. The shop-owner
told Hadrat Ali (r.a.) that just a little while before a slave had sold these
two pieces to him for a value of two dirhams!
Hadrat Ali (r.a.) paid the two
dirhams to the shop-keeper, took his
saddle and reins, and declared: “Glory
be to Allah Who has sent the rizk of the slave as Halaal; but the person made it Haraam through his
own deeds!”
Example
2: A father comes home and intends to
give his son $10.00 as pocket money the next day. The impatient son steals $10.00 from the father’s wallet at
night, thus making what was coming to
him as halaal anyways, to haraam!
Ref-2: Of his own free will, he can spend the given sustenance in a good
or evil manner.
Example 1: One who has wealth spends in the way and
cause of Allah seeking Allah’s Pleasure and Good Will and gives in
charity, orphanages, hospitals,
builds mosques, schools, etc.
Such a person, of his own free
will, spends the wealth entrusted to
him by Allah Subhanah in good deeds,
and will earn a huge reward on the Day of Resurrection.
Example 2: One who has wealth spends the wealth on the
haraam; wine, illegal women, gambling, etc.
Such a person, of his own free will, spends the wealth entrusted to him
by Allah Subhanah in illegal things and will thus have a severe accounting in
the Court of Allah Subhanah!
Q-4B: How much is the involvement of his Free Will?
For a limited period of time,
until one meets with his appointment of death, Allah Subhanah has given man a
Free Will to do as man pleases; and that is precisely the test ordained by
Allah Subhanah! Thus the Free Will and
the efforts he takes to fulfill his intentions (good or evil) are absolutely in
the control of the person, and thus he will be held fully accountable for only
these two things!
Although Allah Subhanah can very
well stop and hold the person from doing any evil deed, it is in His Wisdom
that He permits the person as a test for a limited period!
Allow us to relate an example to
make it clearer:
A teacher teaches his students
for a whole year, and then tests them at the end of the year. During the test the teacher sees from over
the student’s shoulder, that one student is writing all the right answers; but
he does not say anything and allows the student to complete his test! Similarly, the teacher sees another student
writing all the wrong answers, but allows the student to finish the test without
saying a word to the student! Only
when the time is over, the teacher determines who passed and who failed the
test according to what is written by the students themselves.
Similarly, Allah Subhanah allows
mankind to determine for themselves, for a test period of one life-time, of
their own intelligence and free will,
what path they are willing to take. He can very well stop the doers of evil, for He has Power over
everything; but in His Wisdom He Allows man to complete the test! And on the Day of Resurrection He will
announce the results of who amongst mankind passed the test, and who amongst
them failed it!
Allah says in the Holy
Quran in Chapter 67 Surah Al Mulk verse 2:He (Allah) created death and life
that He may test you, to see which of you is the best in deeds.
Your Statement: I hope you will feel offended by my above
probing.
We assume that you inadvertently
missed the word ‘NOT’ in your above statement!
Allah is our witness brother,
rather than being offended in the least, we are grateful to you for providing
us the opportunity to clarify your questions in Islam. We consider ourselves amongst the most
fortunate people on this planet earth, for it is truly nothing but the Mercy
and Grace of Allah Subhanah that He has allowed us to do this humble service in
His Cause. Allah Subhanah is our
witness, we seek no fame, no gain, and absolutely no material benefit in the
least for our humble efforts; we seek only the Pleasure and Good Will of our
Merciful Lord.
If truth be told, there are some
brothers and sisters who at times might cross the lines of decency and abuse
us, curse us, threaten us, and if given the chance might even physically hurt
us; for they may find that some of the practices they follow are not endorsed
by Allah and His Messenger (saws). We
have made it our duty and mission to declare what is said by Allah and His
Messenger (saws), and let the Truth stand clear of the falsehood. We hold absolutely no hatred and ill-will
towards any of the brothers and sisters who abuse us, for we know from the
Quran and Sunnah that if Allah Wills and Pleases, He may guide them to the
Treasures of Al-Islam in Truth. Our
only intention is to bring whoever wishes to listen to good caution, believers
and dis-believers alike, closer to the Guidance of Truth; and if we can bring
even one person closer to His Creator with our humble efforts, we will consider
ourselves indeed honored and blessed.
May Allah Subhanah help us, guide us, have mercy upon us, accept our
humble and weak efforts in His Cause, forgive us our short comings, and with
His Grace, save us all from the torment of the Hell Fire. Ameen.
Whatever written of Truth and
benefit is only due to Allah’s Assistance and Guidance, and whatever of error
is of me. Allah Alone Knows Best and He
is the Only Source of Strength.
Your Brother in
Islam,
