Qadar - predestination in Islam

2024 Author: Miguel Ramacey | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-01-02 11:22

Predestination in Islam is one of the issues on which the edifice of faith is built. Since this is a fairly young religion, all written primary sources are available for numerous interpretations and interpretations. This, in turn, led to the emergence of lengthy discussions among various movements and schools, in particular, about the relationship between Islam (religion) and iman (faith). The works of medieval scholastics were largely unsystematic, fragmented, and served as the basis for many controversies and disputes.

One of the pillars is the belief in predestination. In Islam, this has also always been the subject of many discussions that have been going on for centuries. Directly in the Qur'an regarding this it is said:

Allah created you and what you do

_{Sura 37 “Standing in a row”, verse 96}

In the text of the “hadith Jibril”, the authorship of which is attributed to one of the companions of Muhammad, Ibn Umar, the following definition of faith (iman) in general is given:

The essence of faith is that you believe in Allah, and in His angels, and in His Scriptures, and in Hismessengers, and on the Last Day, and (also that) you believe in the predestination of both good and evil.

However, many currents do not recognize the authority of the hadeeth of Ibn Umar, and iman is accepted in the content, as it is given in the text of the Koran, that is, without the meaning of the words “in predestination of both good and bad.”

Therefore, the belief in Islam in predestination as such and in the predestination of evil is the subject of controversy and discussion.

Directions of religious knowledge in Islam

Without going into details about the causes of political differences between various religious movements and groups, it is necessary to separate methodological details from politics. Depending on the approaches to knowledge in general and knowledge in Islam, predestination in particular, its classical currents had three main forms of expression:

• Kalam (from Arabic “word”, “speech”) - in the general sense, this was the name of all the philosophical and theological works of scientists, with the goal of giving an understandable interpretation to the dogmas of Islam with the help of available arguments of reason.
• Salafiya (from Arabic. “ancestors”, “predecessors”) - a direction that united around the recognition of the most important way of life and faith of the early Muslim community, focused on the righteous ancestors, led by the prophet. At the same time, all subsequent interpretations and philosophical and theological reasoning were qualified as a departure from the original dogmas.
• Sufism (from Arabic “suf” - “wool”) is an esoteric-mystical movement that considered the spiritual path to be the key points,asceticism, serving as the foundations of faith and a righteous life.

The Calamists' dilemmas of predestination

The early Calamist scholars took the sacred texts too literally. They came to the problem of interpreting the belief in the predestination of evil as a means of substantiating the legitimacy of its commission as such. After all, in this understanding, a person is not responsible for his actions. In this regard, medieval Islamic scholastics were divided into three main branches, representatives of each of which differently saw the free will of a person in the context of predestination:

• Jabrits believed that only Allah acts in the universe. All actions taking place in the world, including the source of which is a person, are known to Allah in advance and are predetermined by him. In the extreme degree of absurdity, such an opinion led to the justification of the evil done by man, his predestination.
• Qadarites claimed that a person has free will to do any action without interference from Allah. Allah does not take part in this, but he knows about the deeds after they have been committed. The man in the concept of the Qadarites is a completely independent creator of his actions. Such a teaching led away from the initial postulates of faith about the universality and omnipotence of Allah, causing heated controversy.
• After the 10th century, Ashharites, close to the orthodox Sunnis, who rejected the ideas of both Jabrites and Qadarites, tried to find a middle ground between them, became dominant among the Kalamist scholars. Ashari wasthe concept of “kasbah” (Arabic “appropriation”, “acquisition”) was developed, according to which a person, being in the will of Allah, nevertheless has the ability to acquire by his actions some deed that has a well-deserved assessment as righteous or evil.

Ways to solve the dilemma in Salafism

Feeling the need to return to their roots, adherents of classical approaches and Salafism saw predestination in Islam in their own way. One of the Salafi authors of the 12th century, widely known for his works and for modern researchers, Ibn Taymiyyah, criticizing the Asharis, sought to return to the general moral character, spirit of the Koran and Sunnah. In his view, the denial of the power of the will of Allah, including in relation to a person and his actions, was erroneous, as well as the denial of the freedom of the will of a person, which gives grounds for personal responsibility. He saw the solution to the dilemma in referring divine omnipotence in relation to man to the past, and the observance of the instructions of the Koran - to his future.

Sufism

Persian Sufi of the 21st century Al-Hujwiri, notes:

Religion has a trunk and branches. Its trunk is confirmation in the heart, and its branches are following (Divine) directions.

_{Al-Hujwiri, “Revealing the Veil”}

For a Sufi mystic, Islam itself is a predestination of fate. It follows the heart, goes along the thin edge of the multiplicity of the nafs (Arabic for “ego”) towards the unity of the spirit. The Sufi does not have a thought about whether this path is predetermined in advance, since his faithis in a different plane. His mind is subjugated, calmed by Allah - he is one with Him, dissolved in Him. He believes in predestination as if he himself were predestination. The Sufi sees Allah in everything. The Sufi says: "La illah illa'llah hu", - "There is no other reality except the reality of Allah, and there is no god but Allah." In this approach, ihsan (Arab. "perfect action") comes first as the highest manifestation of iman.

The Night of Destiny

There is also a very important spiritual tradition that Islam has opened to the whole world - “The Night of Predestination”.

The Night of Destiny is better than a thousand months. On this night, the angels and Jibril descend with the permission of Allah according to all His commands.

_{Quran, Sura 97 "Predestination"}

It is generally accepted that the first suras of the Koran were told to the prophet Muhammad on the Night of Predestination (Arabic “Al-Qadr”). There is no unequivocal understanding of its exact date, every year the holiday is celebrated by Muslims on one of the last ten days of the month of Ramadan. The offensive of Al-Qadr is determined by some signs described in the hadiths; therefore, all the last ten nights of the month of Ramadan are sacred for Muslims.

There is also an opinion that the “Night of Predestination” is a moment in the life of every believer when his faith undergoes a thorough test of stamina and sincerity, just as the faith of the Prophet Muhammad was tested at one time. That is why there is no specific indication of its date.

Perhaps it is through“Nights of predestination”, when a person determines by his choice who he will follow, angels or shaitans, the Lord decided to combine opposite doctrines and worlds in order to establish a way of his omnipotent influence on the free will of a person?