If everything is pre-written, then what is the purpose of our lives? How much freedom do we have to make our own choices? If destiny has already decreed the final abode of a person then to what avail are his deeds or his supplications to Allah? Where does Allah's will end and where does our freedom of choice begin?
I haven't come across a single person who has not been disturbed by these thoughts at one point or the other in their lives. Fate has always been a difficult concept to grasp and swallow. But it is one of the most essential aspects of our faith.
Before we attempt to understand fate, we need to know this hadith:Sayyidina Abu Hurairah Radiallahu Anhu narrates that the Prophet of Allah Sallallahu Alahi Wasalam came to us when we were arguing about Taqdeer. He was angry and his face became so red that it looked as if pomegranate seeds had been burst upon his cheeks. He then said "Is this what you were commanded to do? Or was it for this purpose that I was sent to you? Your predecessors perished only when they argued about this matter. I adjure you, I adjure you, not to argue about it." ' (Sunan Ibn Majah p.9 v.1)
This does not mean that we should shut our minds to rational thinking. The point is that we should try to approach the concept of taqdeer with the intent of understanding and not of arguing. It is not meant to be a topic of debate. Arguing endlessly about taqdeer is like going around in circles and is futile. It is one of those things that Allah has not explained with absolute clarity so we should follow the guiding principles given in Qur'an and Sunnah.
There is a very important thing needed for understanding such tricky concepts and that is FAITH. Surah baqarah begins by saying that This book has guidance for the muttaqeen and then Allah describes muttaqeen starting with THOSE who believe in the ghayb and unseen...that is how important faith is! Because we cannot see Allah or jannah or afterlife or angels. We have just got to believe. Similarly, there are certain concepts like taqdeer that may not be satisfactorily explained a hundred percent purely by logic. It needs both faith and logic to make sense out of certain things. I take it this way that all my senses(sight,hearing etc) are limited. We can only look till a certain distance, hear till a certain distance and we cannot even listen to multiple people at the same time. Similarly, our intellect is also limited. We cannot expect to make absolutely perfect sense out of every abstract concept. Sometimes we need to accept that we are in 5th grade and this concept is of O levels or A levels. We will get a better understanding of it when we get to a higher level. Just like a kindergarten student cannot understand economics or physics. He needs to get to a certain level before he can make sense out if them.
Now coming to the point,there are some things that are pre written and we do not have a choice about them. For example, when and where we are born, when we will die, our rizq,our genetic make up, our family. Allah chooses what situation to put us in. That is Allah's part. And our part is what WE do in those situations and how we react to them. Allah keeps giving us different situations and circumstances to work in and we decide how we react in those situations. And sometimes our actions and choices lead us to new situations and problems and then again it depends on how we deal with the situation. Our actions and choices are in our control otherwise there would be no point of dunya. We are being tested based on our choices.
Allah says:"Verily! We have made that which is on Earth as an adornment for it, in order that We may test them(mankind) as to which of them are best in deeds." (Surah Kahf 7)
The notion that this world is a test warrants that the subjects being tested possess free-will or else there would be no meaning to such a test.
Fate is Allah's knowledge of how the individual is going to use his free-will rather than a pre-decided factor being enforced upon him without giving him a fair chance. We need to understand that Allah is All-knowing.He can tell how well we will do and what choices we will make because His knowledge and his foresight and ilm is unlimited. It has no bounds. But the point is that Allah does NOT make us do those things. The choice is ours alone. Knowing something and making us do that thing are different. I understand it this way that suppose you are a parent or a teacher and you have 10 kids under you. If you know them well even you can tell which child will do well, which one will make xyz choice in which situation. Which child is good in xyz and which one is most likely to fail. You can guess with a lot of precision if you have observed them well. Similarly Allah has that knowledge because He is closer to us than our jugular vein. He knows us better than anyone else.
"And We have already created man and know what his soul whispers to him, and We are closer to him than [his] jugular vein."
Surat Qaf [verse 16] -
Consider another example: An appointment is arranged between two individuals. The first arrives before time and waits for the second; he then comments that the second will arrive late as always. He bases his prediction on previous experience and the lax nature of the second individual. This statement does not restrict or bound the latter's ability to attend on time in any way, it is merely an assertion. Similarly, when Allah the Almighty informs us, through his infinite knowledge, of his knowledge of our precise actions and our consequent abode it should not be perceived to be a compelling decision against our free will, but rather only his knowledge of our decisions.
There is another thing which bothers people that why do some people have it all easy and some have it the hard way and have to face a lot of trials. Take this life as an exam and compare this to our regular exams. In our standard exams, we all get the same question paper at the same time. The syllabus is known but the questions are totally unseen and we have invigilators watching over us and the examiner does not care how much you studied or how hard you worked the whole year or whether you are unwell or had a great tragedy or the loss of a loved one the previous day. He only cares about your result and your output on that exam day.Allah's exam is very different. We all get different question papers based on our strengths and weaknesses,our situations and our environment. We get tailor made question papers. Because Allah knows that everybody does not have the same strengths and same weaknesses. Allah also knows who will draw nearer to Him through hardships and who will perform better in times of ease so Allah modifies our question paper accordingly. Secondly, not only has Allah told us the syllabus but He has also told us what He will ask after we die i.e. the Question paper! We already know what our question paper will be as we know what Allah expects from us. Allah has given us the marking scheme beforehand. Thirdly, Allah will not grade us according to the outcome but rather He will only test us based on how hard we tried and what intentions we had even if the outcome was poor. That is the best part actually that Allah will judge us based on our intentions, actions and choices and not on the outcome of those choices, because sometimes we work really hard to do something right but the outcome isn't always the way we intended.So basically, Allah's exam is the ideal DREAM exam where we know everything we need to do. The concept of reward and punishment is there to serve as a motivation for us otherwise we become lazy. Some people are motivated by rewards and some by the mention of punishments that is why Allah explicitly describes both in Quran for both kinds of people.
Another very important thing to understand is that our deen teaches us to live in the present. The past is just for learning from our mistakes and the future is just to motivate us to plan and work harder next time. But we have got to live in the present.We have got to make every second count! There is specifically a hadith which forbids using the word "Kaash" or What if...".
"If anything (in the form of trouble) comes to you, don't say, 'If I had not done that, such and such thing would not have happened,' but say, 'Allah has ordained it so, and whatever He pleases He does' [Qaddarallaahu wa maashaa'a fa'al] because 'ifs' and 'buts' open the door for Satan."(Muslim)
Do NOT waste your time and energy in regretting. Just learn your lesson and move on. Do not dream about going back to the past and changing everything because what happened was meant to be, whether good or bad. Remember, the choices are in our hands and the outcome is in Allah's hands. Even if something bad happens, it is good for us in the long run. There is good in everything that happens no matter how bad it seems intially. Either it is meant to make us learn something or it is a trial through which Allah wants to elevate our ranks or it is a test through which Allah wants to test our faith and spirit. Our job is only to make the right choices and to learn from our mistakes and live like theres no guarantee that we will get another second to live. Leave the outcome to Allah. If your hard work does not pay off in this world, it will surely pay off in Akhirah for you!
"How remarkable is the case of the believer! There is good for him in everything, but this is not the case for anyone except for the believer. When the believer receives any good, he is thankful to Allah, and gets a reward. And when some misfortune befalls him, he endures it patiently, for which he is (also) rewarded."(Muslim)
