Thursday, April 11, 2013

Man : Preordainment and Free Will




Man : Preordainment and Free Will (part 1 inshaaAllah J )

Divinine Preordainment is one of the most important issues that occupy the mind of many. A friend of mine asked me about it and something got to do with it.

InshaAllah I will try to make this very brief and maybe we will benefit from it as well.

Before that, it is best we start from Man itself. Man’s action can be classified into 2 types
1) 1     His actions which are preordained. He has no feedom to accept or refuse these actions, such as his birth, death, him being short or tall, dark skinned or light, the unwilled motion of the systems within his body etc.
2)     2 Man is also endowed with the freedom of choice to do any action. Thru thinking and feeling he is able to accept and refuse and ability to carry them out.When reaching the age of puberty, man is obligated to observe the acts of worship as he is able to decide. He had the power of reasoning and is able to decide to do or not to do an action. He is free to choose whether to observe or responds to Divine legislation or not.
We have to understand 2 of the attributes of Allah swt to understand this, that is al-khaliq (the creator) and al Hakim (the most just) .
He created everything, including the Syaithan and all the things happened with his Will and permission. However, He is also the most Just. When we say Just, we must understand that Allah did not enjoin an action unless we are able to do it. He provides us with the power and grants us the ability and gives us the freedom to choose whether to do it or not to do it. For example,  adultery. He created within the man the ability to commit adultery or not to commit them. If he did not commit the action, he had safeguarded himself will be rewarded. However if he committed the action, he will be a sinner as he had directed the ability and capability that had been bestowed upon him to do the sin.

It is impossible and feasible that Allah swt orders an action or forbid another that is beyond the ability of man itself and beyond his scope. Allah swt says “ Allah burdens not a person beyond his scope..” In another ayat he say “ ..and He has not laid upon you in religion any hardship”. In another ayat he says: “ ..Allah intends for you ease and does not want to make things difficult for you..”

So comes a Question, does the devil have the means to set up things to distract us from the Deen or manipulate us.
First of all, the Devil is also a creature of Allah swt, he has no power or able to do things without the permission from Allah swt. He will entice man to do bad things, showing them the ‘goodness’ in falsehood, whisperings to the man’s heart to sin etc. So man with his own ability and nafs and the whisperings from the syaithan, he is able to sin, but he is also capable to shun this whisperings, take reins of his own nafs and refrain from sinning.

Secondly, can we say that Syaithan is also part of the tests from Allah swt. Yes, it is the test from Allah swt and He has given man the capability to overcome it and freedom to choose.

A simple example, an uncovered super sexy lady walks in front of us. Our eyes glanced at it. (1) Our mind knows it is wrong to ogle at her as it is prohibited by Allah swt. (2) Our nafs (desires) says go for it. (3) Syaithan will take this opportunity to whispers to our hearts..just seeing only ..only a short look again…it’s a waste shes such a bomb….later can istighfar, Allah is most forgiving..etc (4) And Allah swt made this scenario possible for us as a test (liyabluwakum ayyukum ahsanu amala- to test you all which or you had made his deeds good, ---and this is the life of this world).
If we succumb to our nafs and listened to the syaithan, we had sinned. If we overcome this test, we will be rewarded.
So all the tests that befalls us, we are capable of overcome it or just succumb to it.

Wallahualam.