Does Taqdir Imply Predestination?
M. A. Malek and Mrs. Sajeda Malek
The word taqdir in the Qur’an has come to mean, for many Muslims and Orientalists, the "absolute decree of good and evil by
God", meaning that God has preordained all our acts and choices, and
therefore we are not responsible for our actions. To dispel this
misunderstanding, it is necessary to understand the correct meaning of the
Arabic words qadar
and taqdir.
For example, the Qur’an speaks of a taqdir for each
and everything that has been created: "Glorify the name of thy lord, the
most high, who creates, then makes complete, and Who
measures ('qaddara'
from taqdir),
then guides"(87:1-3). "Who created and then ordained for it a measure
(taqdir)"(25:2).
"Surely We have created everything according to a
measure (qadar)"(54:49).
"And the sun moves to its destination. That is the ordinance (taqdir) of the
Mighty, the Knowing. And the moon, We have ordained ('qaddarna'
from taqdir)
for its stages" (36:38, 39).1
All these verses go to show that taqdir, in the
language of the Qur'an, is the universal law of God, operating as much in the
case of man as in the rest of nature: the law extending to the sun, the moon,
the stars, the earth and the heavens, and all that exists in them. This
universal law is fully explained in two short verses already quoted: "Who
creates, then makes complete, and Who measures, then
guides"(87:1-3). Four things are mentioned regarding every object of
creation, including man: its creation (khalaq), its completion (taswiya), its measure (taqdir), and its
guidance to its goal (hidaya).
The law of life, as witnessed in nature, is exactly the law described here.
Everything is created so as to finally attain its completion, the completion
being brought about according to a law or measure within which everything works
by Divine guidance.
Thus the taqdir of a thing is the law or the measure of its growth
and development and the taqdir
of a man is not different in nature from the taqdir of other
things.2
The misinterpretation of taqdir as 'predestination' is due
to the misunderstanding of the nature of good and evil. However, the following
verses and the associated commentary can shed clearer light on this.3
(4:78) [....] Yet, when a
good thing happens to them, some people say, "This is from God,"
whereas when evil befalls them, they say, "This is from thee (O fellow-man)!"92
Say: All is from God." What, then, is amiss with these people that they
are in no wise near to grasping the truth of what they are told?93
(4:79) Whatever good
happens to thee is from God; and whatever evil befalls thee is from thyself.94
(2:6-7) Behold, as for
those who are bent on denying the truth – it is all one to them whether thou warnest them or does not warn them: they will not believe.
God has sealed their hearts and their hearing, and over their eyes is a veil:7 and awesome suffering awaits them.
92. i.e., they do not realize that the evil
happening may possibly be a consequence of their own actions or their own
choice between several courses open to them, but are prone to attribute it to
others.
93. Lit., "something [which they are]
told" -- i.e., a truth which their own reason as well as the teachings of
all the prophets should have made obvious to them.
94. There is no contradiction between this
statement and the preceding one that "All is from God". In the
world-view of the Qur"an, God is the ultimate
source of all happening: consequently, all good that comes to man and evil that
befalls him flows, in the last resort, from God's will.
However, not everything that man regards as
"evil fortune" is really, in its final effect, evil -- for, "it
may well be that you hate a thing the while it is good for you, and it may well
be that you love a thing the while it is bad for you: God knows, whereas you do
not know"(2:216). Thus, many an apparent "evil" may sometimes be
more than a trial and a God-willed means of spiritual growth through suffering,
and need not necessarily be the result of wrong choice or wrong deed on the
part of the person thus afflicted. It is, therefore, obvious that the
"evil" or "evil fortune" of which this verse speaks of has
a restricted connotation, in as much it refers to evil in the moral sense of
the word: that is to say, to suffering resulting from the actions or the
behavior of the person concerned, and this is in accordance with the natural
law of cause and effect which God has decreed for all His creation, which the Qur"an describes as "the way of God" (sunnat Allah). For all such suffering man has
only himself to blame, since "God does not wrong anyone by as much as at
atom's weight"(4:40).
A reference to the natural law instituted by God,
whereby a person who persistently adheres to false beliefs and refuses to
listen to the voice of truth gradually loses the ability to perceive the truth,
"so that finally, as it were, a seal is set upon his heart"(Raghib). Since it is God who has instituted all laws of
nature -- which, in their aggregate, are called sunnat Allah (the way of God) -- this sealing is attributed to Him: but it
is a consequence of man's free choice and not an act of
"predestination". Similarly, the suffering which, in the life to
come, is in store for those who during their life in this world have willfully
remained deaf and blind to the truth, is a natural consequence of their free
choice -- just as happiness in the life to come is the natural consequence of
man's endeavor to attain to righteousness and inner illumination. It is in this
sense that the Qur’anic references to God's
"reward" and "punishment" must be understood.
The Qur'an, therefore, has not dealt with the
question of the creation of good and evil at all. It speaks of the creation of
heavens and earth and all that is in them; it speaks of the creation of man; it
speaks of endowing him with certain faculties and granting him certain powers;
it tells us that he can use these powers and faculties within certain
limitations -- and the limitations of each kind are its taqdir. But in the Qur'an, there
is no mention of a taqdir
to mean either the creation of good and evil deeds, or an absolute decree of
good and evil by God.4
It may, however, be added that God is recognized by
the Qur'an as the first and the ultimate cause of all things; but this does not
mean that He is the Creator of the deeds of man. He has, of course, created
man; He has also created the circumstances under which he lives and acts; but
He has endowed man with a discretion to choose how to act, which he can
exercise under certain limitations, just as all his other powers and faculties are
exercised under certain limitations and only in accordance with certain laws.5
This is not to claim that God has subjected the
universe to a certain scientific laws and abandoned it to let it run its
course. No reader of the Qur'an gets this impression. In the Qur'an, God is al Rabb: the Sustainer, Cherisher, Regulator, and Governor of
all. He is the omnipresent source of harmony and balance of nature. His
influence and sway over creation is continuous and pervading. However, none of this conflicts with the fact that we are empowered to make
moral decisions and to carry them out.6
The Qur'an talks about reward and
punishment based on human choices and human free will. If the
individual is not free to choose between good and evil (of which the Qur'an gives
ample evidence and guidance) then the question of reward and punishment becomes
absurd.
References:
1. The Religion of Islam, by Maulana
Muhammad All M.A., LL.B. Published by National Publication and Printing House U.A.R. Based chapter 7, p 236
2. Ibid., p 236-237.
3. The Message of the Qur'an, by Muhammad Asad. Published by Dar AI-Andalus, Gibralter. p. 119.
4. The Religion of Islam, by Maulana
Muhammad Ail M.A., LLB. Published by National
Publication and Printing House U.A.R Based chapter 7,
p 238
5. Ibid., p 238-739
6. Even Angels Ask, by Dr. Jeffrey Lang, Amana
Publications,
Posted
January 15, 2007. This article was published in the October-December 2006 issue of
"The Message," a United Islamic Association (UIA)
publication,