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human-freedom

Divine Will and Human Freedom

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Shakespeare writes: “Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and others have
greatness thrust upon them." This pretty much sums up the role of the three groups of
factors that shape human destiny: heredity, human effort, and environment. This also
echoes what Scriptures would tell us.

Influenced by Muslim traditions and Muslim and Christian scholars and theologians,
Muslims and Christians widely believe that God predestines the fate of human beings –
how long they live, how they live, what fortune or misfortune they enjoy or suffer in life
— no matter what they actually do during their time on earth. But if this were true, as I
concluded in an earlier article, the whole case for religion that makes man responsible for
his actions would crumble. Destiny plays a part in human life, but man largely shapes his
own destiny.

The Quran states that God has created everything in due measure (taqdir, proportion or
destiny) (25:2). Shakespeare puts it: “There's a divinity that shapes our ends.” The
German Philosopher Goethe says: “Man supposes that he directs his life and governs his
actions, when his existence is irretrievably under the control of destiny.” David Eagleman
notes in his book Incognito: “Most of what we do and think and feel is not under our
conscious control.” He documents how human biology, especially the brain’s constitution
and health, affects human behavior.

Certainly, though, destiny is a tricky term to understand. Often what we may call destiny
or fate befalling us is nothing but the outcome of what we (or our forefathers or society)
have done. The Quran states along these lines: “Whatever misfortune strikes you is due to
what your hands have earned” (42:30) and “Laisa lil insani illa ma sa’a – There’s
nothing for man without effort” (53:39; also see 20:15; 2:286).

The history of human civilization is that of human endeavor: unprecedented material

In their dreams and visions, individuals sometimes see things that foretell future events.
The Quran also announces some important events in advance: the birth of Jesus who
would be worthy of respect in both worlds (3:45); the birth of John (Yahya) who would
be an honorable prophet to his people (3:39); Muslims’ victory at the Badr battle (3:124-
126; 8:9-12); and the fall of the Roman empire (30:2-4). Call, if you will, such dreams,
visions, and announcements vindications of Divine will. However, an analysis of such
predicted events may suggest that underlying factors at play in most cases are rather
hereditary or environmental, reflecting the predominant role of human effort, present or
past.

That God does not directly will or influence events is brought out by several verses of the
Quran. A key passage reads as: “Surely God does not change the condition of people until
they change their own selves (nafs)” (13:11). Still another states that God lands one
where one chooses to turn (4:115). God mocks those who do not feed the poor and says
that if God willed, He could have fed them (36:47). Also: “If God willed, He could have
guided us all” (6:149), “If He willed, He could have made humankind one nation” (5:48),
and “If He willed, all would have believed” (10:99). The import of all these verses is that
God does not directly determine our affairs.

Look at another important Quran verse that unequivocally upholds freedom of human
choice: “The Truth (has now come) from your Lord; let, then, him who wills believe (in
it), and let him who wills reject (it)” (18:29). There are other verses that categorically
make human beings accountable for their own actions: “You are responsible for your own
selves” (5:105) and “Spend in God’s cause, and let not your own hands lead you to ruin”
(2:195).
But what do you make of such statements in the Quran that say that nothing happens
without God’s knowledge (2:33) and that everything is in the Book (78:29)? Is human
freedom limited by God’s knowledge and power? A great Islamic thinker Indian-
Pakistani poet, philosopher Muhammad Iqbal does not think so. In his seminal work
Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam, he forcefully and beautifully describes
God's knowledge and power in a way that admits of freely exercised creativity on the part
of humankind: "If history is regarded merely as a gradually revealed photo of a
predetermined order of events, then there is no room in it for novelty and initiation.
Consequently, we can attach no meaning to the word ‘creation’, which has a meaning for
us only in view of our own capacity for original action. The truth is that the whole
theological controversy relating to predestination is due to pure speculation with no eye
on the spontaneity of life, which is a fact of actual experience. No doubt, the emergence
of egos endowed with the power of spontaneous and hence unforeseeable action is, in a
sense, a limitation on the freedom of the all-inclusive Ego. But this limitation is not
externally imposed. It is born out of His own creative freedom whereby He has chosen
finite egos to be participators of His life, power, and freedom.” He further aptly notes:

It is the lot of man to share in the deeper aspirations of the universe around him and to
shape his own destiny as well as that of the universe […] And in this process of
progressive change God becomes a co-worker with him, provided man takes the
initiative.

Several Quran verses encapsulate this idea of God becoming a co-worker with man
(13:11; 8:53; 19:76; 42:23; 2:26). God adds good to those who do good (42:23). This is a
God’s Law: If you start doing something good, you’re further inclined to doing the good
things and if you start doing evil, you’re further attracted to the evil.

Man, as all the creation, is subject to the Laws of God, which scientists call the Laws of
Nature. But note: God Himself is subject to such Laws. He never changes His Sunnah or
Ways (35:43, 17:77). This Divine will, of course, constrains human freedom. None can
work in contravention of such laws. But this is a general constraining factor as well as a
blessing for humankind. If things hadn’t been that way, we couldn’t have ever known for
sure what works for us and what does not and all scientific research would have come to
a standstill.

Evolution is a natural process, taking place throughout the universe. Evolution is a

Submitted by Abdur Rab, author of Exploring Islam in a New Light: A View from the
Quranic Perspective, 2010

*Photo Credit: Usman Ahmed