Question: What does it mean to believe in divine predestination (qadar)? Can predestination be denied?
ANSWER
The sixth pillar of faith is to believe in qadar (divine predestination), and that both good and evil come from Allah the Exalted. The statement in the Amantu creed, “Wa bil-qadari khayrihi wa sharrihi minallahi taʿala,” affirms belief that predestination, and all that is good and evil, come from Allah the Exalted.

All the good and evil, benefit and harm, and gain and loss that come to people occur by the decree (taqdir) of Allah the Exalted. In its lexical sense, qadar means to measure a quantity and also signifies judgment and command; it also carries the meaning of abundance and greatness. Allah the Exalted's willing, in pre-eternity, the existence of a thing is called qadar. The coming into existence of qadar, that is, of the thing whose existence was willed, is called qadha. The terms qadha and qadar are also used interchangeably. Accordingly, qadha means Allah the Exalted's willing, in pre-eternity, of all the things that will be created from pre-eternity to post-eternity. The creation of all these things in accordance with qadha, neither less nor more, is called qadar. Allah the Exalted knew, in pre-eternity, in the endless past, everything that would come to be. It is precisely this knowledge of His that is called qadha and qadar.

The movement of all animals, plants, and inanimate beings, [solids, liquids, gases, stars, molecules, atoms, electrons, electromagnetic waves; in short, the motion of every existing thing, physical occurrences, chemical reactions, nuclear reactions, energy exchanges, and physiological activities within living beings], the occurrence or non-occurrence of all things, the good and evil deeds of Allah's servants, their receiving the recompense for these in this world and in the Hereafter, and everything else, existed in pre-eternity within the knowledge of Allah the Exalted. He knew all of these in pre-eternity. He creates the things, their properties, their movements, and the events that will occur from pre-eternity to post-eternity in accordance with what He knew in pre-eternity. Allah the Exalted creates all the good and evil deeds of human beings, their becoming Muslim, their disbelief (kufr), and all their deeds, whether willing or unwilling. He alone is the Creator, the Maker. He is the One who creates everything brought about by causes. He creates everything by means of a cause.

Question: It is said that everything created in the universe is created by means of a specific cause. Is the fire that people use for burning also one of the links in this chain of causes?
Answer: Allah the Exalted creates all the good and evil deeds of human beings, their becoming Muslim, their disbelief (kufr), and all their deeds, whether willing or unwilling. Allah the Exalted alone is the Creator, the Maker. He is also the One who creates everything brought about by causes. He creates everything by means of a specific cause.

For example, fire is a burning agent, but it is Allah the Exalted who burns. Fire itself has no involvement whatsoever in burning. However, His custom (adah) is such that He does not create burning unless fire touches a thing. Fire does nothing other than heating a thing up to its ignition temperature. It is not fire that gives the carbon and hydrogen present in the structure of organic bodies their affinity for combining with oxygen, nor is it fire that brings about the exchange of electrons. Those who cannot see the truth suppose that fire does these things. It is not fire that burns or that carries out the combustion reaction. Nor is it oxygen. Nor is it heat. Nor is it the exchange of electrons. The One who burns is Allah the Exalted alone. He has created all of these as causes for burning. A person without knowledge supposes that fire burns. A person who has finished primary school does not approve of the statement "fire burns"; such a person says, "Air burns." A person who has finished secondary school does not accept this either; such a person says, "The oxygen in the air burns." A person who has finished high school says, "The capacity to burn is not exclusive to oxygen; every element that draws electrons is a burning agent." A university graduate, meanwhile, takes energy into account alongside matter. It can be seen that, as knowledge advances, one draws closer to the true nature of things, and it becomes understood that behind the things supposed to be causes lie yet further causes. The Prophets, who stood at the highest degree of knowledge and science and who saw the realities in full, and the Islamic scholars who, following in the path of those great ones, attained droplets from the oceans of knowledge, declare that the things supposed today to burn and to build are but helpless, powerless instruments, mere causes and created things, and that the true Maker, the true Creator, is not the causes but Allah the Exalted. It is Allah the Exalted who burns. He burns even without fire. However, burning by means of fire is His custom (adah). If He does not wish to burn, He does not burn even within fire. For example, He did not burn Ibrahim alaihissalam in the fire. Because He loved him greatly, He set aside His custom. Indeed, He has likewise created substances that prevent fire from burning. Chemists are discovering these substances.

Had Allah the Exalted so willed, He would have created everything without a cause. He would have burned without fire, satisfied hunger without eating, made things fly without an airplane, and made things heard from a distance without a radio. However, out of His grace, and by way of doing good to His servants, He tied the creation of everything to a cause. He willed to create particular things by means of particular causes. He concealed His works behind causes; He hid His power (qudrah) beneath causes. Whoever seeks Allah's creation of a thing takes hold of that thing's cause and thereby attains it. [One who wishes to light a lamp uses a match. One who wishes to extract olive oil uses a press. One whose head aches uses aspirin. One who wishes to go to Paradise and attain endless blessings follows Islam. One who shoots himself with a pistol dies. One who drinks poison dies. One who drinks water while sweating falls ill. One who commits a sin and one who loses one’s faith (iman) goes to Hell. Whoever resorts to a given cause attains the thing to which that cause is the means. One who reads Muslims' books learns Islam, comes to love it, and becomes a Muslim. One who lives among irreligious people and listens to their words becomes ignorant of religion, and most of the religiously ignorant become disbelievers (kafir). Whatever vehicle a person boards, to that place they go.]

There are many verses (ayat) of the Noble Qur'an concerning divine predestination (qadar). The meaning of a few of them is as follows:

(Everything they did, small or great, is inscribed line by line in books.) [Surah al-Qamar 52, 53]

(Every ummah has an appointed term; when it comes, it is neither delayed nor advanced by a moment.) [Surah al-A'raf 34]

(Not even the weight of an atom in the heavens or on the earth remains hidden from Him, nor is there anything smaller or greater than that, but it is in a clear Book.) [Surah Saba 3]

(The lifespan granted to a living being and the shortening of its lifespan are surely recorded in a Book.) [Surah Fatir 11]

Our master the Prophet explained these verses of the Noble Qur'an. Belief in predestination (qadar) is one of the six pillars of faith (iman). It is Allah the Exalted who creates qadar and everything. Allah the Exalted certainly knows whether His servants will do good or evil, and whether they are destined for Hell or for Paradise. He records what He knows. This does not mean, however, that a servant is compelled to act in that way merely because it has been recorded. The Jabriyyah say that Allah compels the servant by force, while the Mu'tazilah deny Allah's divine decree (qadar). The meaning of two noble hadiths is as follows:

(All things come from Allah the Exalted, both the good and the evil.) [Tabarani]

(The balance is in the hand of Allah, the Most Merciful; He raises some and lowers others.) [Bazzar]

Predestination is pre-eternal knowledge

Question: Does qadar mean that Allah the Exalted knows in advance what will happen, or that He forces His servants to act in a certain way?
Answer: Belief in qadha and qadar is one of the six pillars of faith. Qadha and qadar are among the matters that intelligent people most often find difficult to understand. Such doubts arise from not properly understanding qadha and qadar. If the meaning of qadar were clearly understood, no one would be left with any doubt, and their faith would also grow stronger.

The Creator of the worlds knows, from pre-eternity to eternity, all that He has created and all that He will create, from the smallest particle to the ‘Arsh, all material things and immaterial realities, all at once and together. He knew everything before creating it.

Everything has two kinds of existence: one is existence in knowledge, and the other is external, material existence. Imam al-Ghazali (rahimahullah) explained this with the following example:

An engineer or architect first conceives in their mind the form of a building they intend to construct, together with all its details. They then draw on paper the image they have formed in their minds. After that, they give this plan to the architect and the craftsman, who construct the building in accordance with it.

The plan on paper represents the building’s existence in knowledge; it is the form conceived in the mind and then drawn. This is referred to as intellectual, mental, or imaginal existence. The building constructed from timber, stone, brick, and mortar, on the other hand, is its external existence. The form conceived in the mind of the engineer or architect, in other words, their prior knowledge of that form, constitutes the qadar of the building.

Because the subject of qadha and qadar is complex, those who read about it may develop certain mistaken ideas, doubts, or misconceptions. For this reason, the great scholars of Islam explained qadha and qadar in various ways. Thus, readers and listeners may benefit from whichever explanation best accords with the context and the way the matter is expressed, and thereby be preserved from falling into doubt.

Qadar is Allah the Exalted’s eternal knowledge of the things that will be created in the future. Allah the Exalted creates all things through His power and knowledge. Qadar is this knowledge.

Before anything is created, qadar is the relation of Allah the Exalted’s attribute of knowledge to created beings. Qadar is pre-eternal knowledge, not an irresistible compulsion. It is Allah the Exalted’s knowledge from pre-eternity of all that will occur; it does not mean that He forces His servants to act in a certain way.

Ahl al-Sunnah wa’l-Jama‘ah affirms belief in qadar and holds that believing in it is one of the essential articles of faith. They state that anyone who does not believe in qadar is not a believer. Everything decreed by qadar, whether good or bad, pleasant or painful, is from Allah the Exalted. This is because qadar refers to Allah the Exalted’s creating things in accordance with His pre-eternal knowledge of them.