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Lesson Belief in Divine Decree
Meaning of the Belief in Divine Decree:
It is the firm affirmation that everything, good or bad, is by the will of Allah and His divine decree and that He is the executor of what He wills. Nothing occurs without His will, nothing deviates from His will, nothing in the world is beyond His divine decree, and nothing occurs except by His planning. Despite this, Allah commanded and forbade His creation from certain things and made them capable of choosing their actions without being compelled. Rather, they occur by their ability and intent even though Allah created them and their power, guiding whom He wills to His Mercy and leading astray whom He wills by His Wisdom. He is not questioned about what He does. Rather, it is they who ask Him for their needs.
Definition of divine decree
Divine decree: It is the decree of Allah the Exalted for things in before time, and His knowledge that they will occur in specific times and in specific ways, and His writing of this, His Will for it, His creation of it, and its occurrence according to what He ordained.
Belief in the decree of Allah the Exalted is an obligation for it is one of the pillars of faith, as evidenced by the response of the Messenger ﷺ when Jibreel (peace be upon him) asked about faith: "To believe in Allah, His angels, His scriptures, His messengers, the Last Day, and to believe in divine decree, its good and bad" (Muslim 8).
What does belief in the divine decree include?
Belief in the divine decree consists of the following four things:
1. Knowledge
Belief that Allah the Exalted is All Knowing of generalities and specifics. It is the belief that Allah knew about all of His creation before He created them. He had knowledge of their provisions, their life terms, their words and actions, their movements and stillness, their secrets and public information, knowledge of who is from Paradise and who among them is from the Fire of Hell. Allah the Exalted said: {He is Allah, other than whom there is no deity, Knower of the unseen and the witnessed} (Al-Hashr:22).
2. Writing
Belief that Allah the Glorified has written all of His prior knowledge in the Preserved Tablet. And its evidence is the saying of the Most High: {No disaster strikes upon the earth or among yourselves except that it is in a register1 before We bring it into being - indeed that, for Allāh, is easy } (Al-Hadid:22). And the Prophet ﷺ said: “Allah wrote the decrees of all creatures fifty thousand years before He created the heavens and the earth” (Muslim 2653).
3. Divine Will
Belief in Allah's executable will, which nothing can reject, and His power that nothing is incapable of. All events occur by Allah's will and power; whatever He wills occurs and whatever He does not will does not. The Exalted said: {And you do not will except that Allah [is the one Who] wills} (Al-Takwir:29).
4. Creation
Belief that Allah the Glorified is the Creator of each and everything. He is the only Creator and every other thing is created for Him. He has power over all things. The Glorified and Exalted said: {And He created everything and determined it with a [precise] determination} (Al-Furqan:2).
A human possesses choice, ability, and will:
Belief in the divine decree does not negate a person's individual will in his or her voluntary action and the ability to do them. Sacred law and reality serve as proof to establish this fact.
As for sacred law, Allah the Exalted says regarding will: {That is the Certain Day; so he who wills may seek a path of return to his Lord} (An-Naba:39). And He the Exalted said regarding ability: {Allah does not burden a soul except [with that within] its ability. It will have [the consequence of] what [good] it has gained, and it will bear [the consequence of] what [evil] it has earned} (Al-Baqarah:286). "Al-Wus'" means ability.
As for reality, every human being knows that he has a will and ability with which he does or leaves something. People can differentiate between what happens within the capacity of their will, such as walking, and what happens without their will, such as a sudden tremble or fall. However, the will of Allah's servant and his ability are fulfilled by Allah's will and ability; may He be Exalted. Allah said: {For whoever wills among you to take the right course. And you do not will except that Allah wills - Lord of the worlds} (At-Takwir:28-29). He affirmed the will of a human, then affirmed that it is included in His will, Glory be to Him. And because the entire universe belongs to Allah Almighty, there is nothing that exists within it that is not subject to His Knowledge and Will.
A human's will and ability are subject to religious mandates and its commandments and prohibitions. As such, the good-doer is rewarded for choosing the path of guidance, and the wrongdoer is punished for choosing the path of misguidance. Allah, Glory be to Him, did not charge us except with what we are capable of, and He does not accept anyone to abandon His worship under the pretext of predestination and divine decree.
Moreover, before an act of disobedience, a human does not know what Allah the Exalted has known and decreed, for Allah has given him ability and choice and explained the ways of good and evil. Therefore, if he disobeys, he is the one having chosen disobedience, preferring it over obedience, and as such, he will bear the penalty for his disobedience.
Fruits of Belief in Divine Decree
Fruits of belief in predestination and divine decree are great in the life of a Muslim and include:
1- Correct faith in divine decree motivates action and securing means, thereby preventing dependency
Believers are ordered to take the means while having dependence on Allah the Exalted. They believe that these means do not yield results except through Allah's permission because He is the One who has created these means for us, and he is the one who has created the results. The Prophet ﷺ said: "Be keen on what benefits you, seek help from Allah, and do not become incapacitated. If something befalls you, do not say, 'If I had done [something else], it would be such and such,' but say: Allah has decreed, and what He wills, He does. For verily the word 'if' opens the gate for Shaytan to work" (Muslim 2664). When some thought that there is no need to work as long as matters have been ordained, the Prophet ﷺ clarified the error within that line of thinking and stated: "Strive, for each person will be helped to do that for which he was created. Then He recited: {As for him who gives (in charity) and is God conscious, and donates with goodness} (Al-Layl:6) until Allah's saying {We will make easy for him the path of misery} (Al-Layl:10)" (Al-Bukhari 4949, Muslim 2647).
2- A person realizes his ability and self-worth
He is neither pompous nor arrogant because he is incapable of knowing what is destined and the future of what will happen. A human is always incapable and in constant need of his Lord the Exalted. If a person is afflicted with goodness, he becomes arrogant and deceived by it, and if evil and calamity befall him, he becomes anxious and sad. A person is not immune from arrogance and tyranny if good befalls him and sadness and anxiety if evil befalls him, except with belief in divine decree, for what occurs has been fated, for Allah has prior knowledge of its occurrence.
3- It eliminates the vice of envy
A believer does not envy people for what Allah has given to them from His bounty for Allah is the one who provided and decreed for them what they have. He realizes that if he envies someone, he is objecting to Allah's decree and judgment.
4- Belief in divine decree inspires in hearts the courage to face adversity
It strengthens one's resolve because it is certain that provisions and endings are predetermined and that nothing will happen to a person except what has been written for him.
5- Belief in the divine decree implants many realities of faith within a believer.
He is always seeking help from Allah, depending on Him, and relying upon Him while taking the means. He is in need of his Lord the Exalted, deriving aid from him in remaining persistent.
6- Belief in the divine decree brings peace of mind to the soul
A believer realizes that what befalls him was not meant to miss him, and what missed him was not meant to befall him.
