Belief in the Divine Decree [Qadar]
The original meaning of the word Qadar is specified measure or amount whether of quantities or qualities. It has many other usages which branch out from this core. Thus yuqad-dir means, among other things, to measure or decide the quantity, quality, position, etc. of something before you actually make it. And it is this latter sense which interests us here.
“God is the creator of everything, but whatever He creates, He creates with qadar. [Qamar, LIV: 49]
He knows before creating it, that He is going to create it and that it shall be of such and such magnitude, quality or nature etc. and specifies the time of its coming into being and passing away, and the place of its occurrence. If so, then one who believes in the true God should believe that there are no accidents in nature. If something disagreeable happens to him, he should say “God qad-dara (ordained), and He did what He willed” and not waste himself over wishing that it had not occurred, or worrying why it should occur. If on the other hand something agreeable happens to him he should not boast of it, but thank God for it.
“No affliction befalls in the earth or in yourselves, but it is in a Book, before We create it; that is easy for God; that you may not grieve for what escapes you, nor rejoice (vaingloriously) in what has been given to you, God loves not any man proud and boastful.” [Hadid, LVII: 23].
If God yuqad-dir (predestines, predetermines etc.) everything, that includes our so called free actions. But if so in what way can they be said to be free, and how are we responsible for them? This question occasioned the appearance, at a very early history of Islam, of two extreme theological sects. One of them, called the Qadariya, asserted man’s free will and responsibility to the extent of denying God’s foreknowledge, and claiming that God knows our free made actions only after we have performed them. The other, called the Jabriyya, did just the opposite and claimed that there was no difference between the motions of inanimate things and our movements in performing so-called free actions, and that when we use intentional language we speak only metaphorically.
But there is no need to go to such extremes, since it is not difficult to reconcile Divine Qadar and human responsibility. God decided to create man as a free agent, but He knows (and how can He not know!) before creating every man how he is going to use his free will; what, for instance, his reaction would be when a Prophet clarifies God’s message to him. This foreknowledge and its registering in a ‘Book’ is called Qadar. ‘But if we are free to use our will’ a Qadari might say, ‘We may use it in ways that contradict God’s will, and in that case we would not be right in claiming that everything is willed or decreed by God.’ The Qur’an answers this question by reminding us that it was God who willed that we shall be willful, and it is He who allows us to use our will.
“Surely, this is a Reminder; so he who will, takes unto his Lord a way, but you will not unless God wills.” [lnsan, LXXVI: 29-30].
‘If so’, says a Qadari, ‘He could have prevented us from doing evil.’ Yes indeed He could.
“Had God willed, He would have brought them all together to the guidance; if thy Lord had willed whoever is in the earth would have believed, all of them, all together.” [Yunus, X: 99].
“Had God willed, they were not idolaters; and we have not appointed thee a watcher over them neither art thou their guardian.” [An’am, VI: 107]
But He had willed that men shall be free especially in regard to matters of belief and disbelief.
“Say: The truth is from your Lord; so let whosoever will believe, and let whosoever will disbelieve.” [Kahf, XVIII: 29].
But men would not be so free if whenever any of them wills to do evil God prevents him from doing it and compels him to do good
“If our actions are willed by God,” someone might say, “then they are in fact His actions.” This objection is based on a confusion God wills what we will in the sense of granting us the will to choose and enabling us to execute that will i.e. He creates all that makes it possible for us to do it. He does not will it in the sense of doing it, otherwise it would be quite in order to say, when we drink or eat or sleep for instance that God performed these actions. God creates them, He does not do or perform them.
Another objection, based on another confusion, is that if God allows us to do evil, then He approves of it and likes it. But to will something in the sense of allowing a person to do it is one thing; and to approve of his action and commend it, is quite another Not everything that God wills He likes. He has, as we have just read in the Qur’an, granted man the choice between belief and disbelief, but He does not, of course, like men to disbelieve (to be thankless).
“If you are unthankful, God is independent of you. Yet He approves not unthankfullness in His servants; but if you are thankful, He will approve it in you.” [Zumar, XXXIX: 7].
Conclusion (Effect of Faith on outward behaviour)
These in resume are the basic truths to which the Prophet Muhammad invited his people. The best proof -besides the foregoing arguments- of their being truths, and very important truths for man, is the good effect which they produce in man’s internal state, and thus his outward behaviour. We have already, in dealing with belief in God, pointed to some of the feelings towards Him, brought about by belief in His existence and His attributes of perfection. Since man’s attitude in relation to his fellow-human beings is very much connected with his attitude towards God, that belief in God with resulting feelings towards the Divine, is bound to produce in man’s heart feelings towards other men that are appropriate to it. And since man’s outward behaviour regarding God and other men is generated by his real beliefs about and feelings towards them, it is only to be expected of true religion to call for a set of behaviour that is both a natural outcome of its set of beliefs and a factor of strengthening them. The internal state to which Muhammad invited men is called ‘eman‘ (faith or belief). The external behaviour based on it is called Islam. At the Makkan period he concentrated mostly on the first, without entirely neglecting the second, which he elaborated at Madina when the first Muslim independent community was formed. Even at Makkah the Prophet Muhammad was directed by God to invite people to the following acts of worship and moral behaviour.
- To keep their faith alive and strengthen it Muslims were told to recite the Qur’an and study it carefully, to learn from the Prophet and say as often as possible, and especially on some specified occasions, certain prayers, and to perform prayer in the manner which Gabriel demonstrated to the Prophet. All this is salat in its widest sense.
- After salat the serving of God, comes zakaat which in its broadest sense includes any act of service to other men. Being good to men is the fruit and therefore the proof of the tree of faith. He is not truthful who harms men and yet claims to believe in and love God.
“Hast thou seen him who does not believe in retribution (in the hereafter)? That is he who repulses the orphan and urges not the feeding of the needy. So woe to those that pray and are heedless of their prayers, to those who make display and refuse charity.” [Ma’un, CVII].
The first three verses of this Sura were revealed at Makkah and the rest at Madina. The Madinan verses speak about the hypocrites who perform outward acts of worship that do not originate from any sincere faith. But their behaviour betrays them, since it is the same as that of the Makkan professed unbelievers.
Following are a few examples of Zakaat which the Qur’an advocated at this early period.
Acquisition of wealth for its own sake or so that it may increase the worth of its collector is condemned. Mere acquisition of wealth counts nothing in the sight of God. It does not give man any merit whether here or in the hereafter.
“Who gathered riches and counted them over thinking that his riches have made him immortal.” [Humaza, CIV: 2-3].
Those “who amassed and hoarded ” wealth in this life are to he called in the hereafter by a furnace that ‘scathes away the scalp’ [Ma’arij, LXX: 15-18]. Wealth for its own sake is among the vices of men which can be eradicated only by the kind of belief and practices which Muhammad taught. [Ma’arij, LXX: 19-27].
Man should acquire wealth with the intention of spending it on his own needs, and the needs of others. “Man, the Prophet tells us, says: ‘My wealth! My wealth!’ Have you any wealth except that which you wear and tear, eat and consume up, give as alms and thus preserve!” Wealth should be spent on the needy (specially if they are parents or relatives), on orphans and those who ask owl ng to poverty, on the freeing of slaves etc. The following verses were among the earliest that were addressed to the Prophet.
“As for the orphan, do not oppress him, as for the beggar, scold him not.” [(Dhuha, XCIII: 9-10]
Among the qualities that characterise a true believer is the quality of giving the needy and the outcast, as their right, a specified portion of his wealth. [Ma’arij, LXX: 24-25].
There is on the way to success in the hereafter a steep path that can be attempted only by one who performs the following deeds:
“The freeing of a slave, or giving food upon a day of hunger to an orphan near of kin or a needy man in misery”
And then “become of those who believe and council each other to be steadfast, and counsel each other to be merciful.” [Balad, XC: 13-17].
Besides helping his fellowmen in this way man should also be truthful and honest with them and fulfil his promises to them. [Ma’arij, LXX: 32-33]. He should not infringe upon their rights especially those of life [LXXX: 83], and of decency. [Ma’arij, LXX: 29-31].
That briefly, is the message which Muhammad addressed to his Makkan audience.
not sure this section is relevant here, as the topic is Qadar?
summary?
