The Free Will Question., And How Islamic Philosophy views this issue

[mahmoud mrt]

I would like to make this thread about this topic, The Free Will Question.

First I state the Question:

“How can I as a human being make a free choice, while religion tells me that God Almighty has already created everything and every act that happened or will happen in the future for all creation, and why then God will hold me responsible for my acts and deeds, and will reward or punish me accordingly?.”

Well, It’s a very complicated Issue, and I will try to make it as concise as possible, but clear, for anyone who is eager to know how Islamic philosophy views this issue.

First I want to make clear That this is a Philosophical issue, meaning that the question deals with the infinite and absolute understanding of God and the philosophy of creation.

So any philosophical approach from any religion or person regarding this issue Cannot guarantee that it’s the absolute right approach, it’s Just an attempt to understand the Divine and His absolute infinite power and wisdom.

I will bring ideas from the Book “Existence and non-Existence” from the Egyptian Muslim Thinker “Dr. Mustafa Mahmoud” who derived those philosophical ideas from the Muslim philosopher Ibn-Arabee.


I would like also to bring a quote from the movie “The Matrix Reloaded” in the year 2003, it’s the most popular movie that discussed this issue, and it has many quotes with very deep philosophical basis. Sure the makers of this movie had read a lot in different religious philosophies.

In the movie: When Neo told the Oracle, meaning, “If you already know what choice I will make, how can I make the choice?” She Replied “Because you did Not come here to make the choice, you Already made it, you’re here to understand Why you made it?”.


Well, you may not link this quote to religion, but if you deeply think about it, it illustrates how many religions view and analyze this topic.

Let me Illustrate the idea by referring to myself as an example:

I’m here in this life to understand my true self, and each choice I make I had already chosen it before creation, before I was transformed by God from a Non-existent possibility to a full existent creature, I am here to understand why I made those choices and I will be held accountable for them.


The point it that there are 2 eternal realms with No beginning and No end:

1- Existence, which is God Almighty, who is infinite, most powerful, & wise.

2- Non-Existence, or in other words “The world of possibilities”, which includes all possible creatures; It’s the infinite number of all possible creatures.

The full power of the 2 realms Belongs To God Almighty alone “There’s No God But Allah”, So He Solely has the knowledge & the power of transferring a Non-existent Possibility to a full real life creature or being.

But Remember “God Almighty Did Not Create the Possibility, He only knew it by His knowledge and His wisdom, and He Solely has the power to transfer it and bestows on it the gift of creation & existence”

So When I say “God Almighty Created me”, I mean that He knew my eternal true self in the Non-existence Realm, and thus He bestowed on me the gift of life & existence, and created for me the circumstances that put choices in front me which God Almighty Already knew what I will choose regarding them, depending on His Full eternal Knowledge of my true self in the Non-existence Realm. Thus My True Self will Be Real Proven by True Acts.

As God mentioned in the holy Qur'an a number of times meaning:

” When He “God” wants something, He says to it Be, and it becomes”

See how God Speaks to the non-existent possibility as a separate entity and says to it Be. And by this the entity transforms from being a non-existent possibility to become a full real life creature.

“chapter 2 verse 117 - chapter 3 verse 47 - chapter 16 verse 40 - chapter 19 verse 35 - chapter 36 verse 82 - chapter 40 verse 68”

The only time in the holy Qur’an God mentioned the creation process without speaking to an entity is regarding the hereafter in the day of judgement, Chapter 6 verse 73:

“And it is He who created the heavens and earth in truth. And the day He says, "Be," and it is, His word is the truth. And His is the dominion [on] the Day the Horn is blown. [He is] Knower of the unseen and the witnessed; and He is the Wise, the Acquainted.”


Well, Someone could ask: ”If God’s Almighty knowledge is full, infinite and eternal, Why didn’t He put humans in Heaven or Hell Directly without the Test of this Earthly Life and choices, He already know who is good and deserves heaven and who is evil and deserves hell and all the degrees in between, So Why the test of this Earthly life?”

There are 2 reasons for this:

1- God is the Truth, and so He created this universe to assure the Truth as He mentioned it many times in the holy Qur’an. So the point that His True Knowledge and Wisdom is assured by true Creation and Test is very important.

2- When you as a good person go to Heaven in the hereafter, you will Actually feel the blessing of it truly because you worked hard for it in this Earthly life. This feeling of blessing, thankfulness towards God Almighty, & Enjoyment could never happen Except if you were Tested in this Earthly life and succeeded in the Test.

Also when the evil person will be punished in hell for a duration that God knows, he will have No excuse or claim that he does not deserve this punishment, Because the test was performed and the Truth came real.

Chapter 17 verse 14:

“[It will be said], "Read your record. Sufficient is yourself against you this Day as accountant."



I hope this essay is beneficial and gives clarity for this issue to Muslims And Non-Muslims here.

 

[Left Coast]

***MOD POST***

Heads up - this thread is in the Islam DIR.

 

[stvdv]

So When I say “God Almighty Created me”, I mean that He knew my eternal true self in the Non-existence Realm, and thus He bestowed on me the gift of life & existence, and created for me the circumstances that put choices in front me which God Almighty Already knew what I will chose regarding them, depending on His Full eternal Knowledge of my true self in the Non-existence Realm. Thus My True Self will Be Real Proven by True Acts.

As God mentioned in the holy Quran a number times meaning:

” When He “God” wants something, He says to it Be, and it becomes”

The Free Will Question., And How Islamic Philosophy views this issue

I have a few questions. Reading the above lines, does it mean that in Islam it is said that only when you are like God, being able to say "Be" and it becomes, that you have Free Will? Did Muahmmad have Free Will? Did Jesus have Free Will? Has there ever been a human on earth who had Free Will? Does it mean, that no human being can ever have Free Will?

 

[mahmoud mrt]

The Free Will Question., And How Islamic Philosophy views this issue


I have a few questions. Reading the above lines, does it mean that in Islam it is said that only when you are like God, being able to say "Be" and it becomes, that you have Free Will? Did Muahmmad have Free Will? Did Jesus have Free Will? Has there ever been a human on earth who had Free Will? Does it mean, that no human being can ever have Free Will?

It depends on the perspective you view this point from.

Technically speaking the holy Qur’an repeatedly assures that the Full Free will is Exclusively a trait of God Almighty Alone.

And any choice we make as creatures can only be chosen and done Only if God Originally Allowed it.

So we as creatures make free choices day by day, or in other words we make choices that reflect our true eternal selves and identities in the non-existence realm, and we are here to understand them. But in the bigger picture, only God Exclusively Allowed these choices to be thought of and done, Due to His eternal and full knowledge & power over both realms: Existence and non-existence.


Holy Qur’an: Chapter 76 Verse 30 “And you do not will except that Allah wills. Indeed, Allah is ever Knowing and Wise.”

Chapter 81 verse 29 “And you do not will except that Allah wills - Lord of the worlds.”

 

[stvdv]

Technically speaking the holy Qur’an repeatedly assures that the Full Free will is Exclusively a trait of God Almighty Alone.

I had a question, which you answered very clear below, thank you.

And any choice we make as creatures can only be chosen and done Only if God Originally Allowed it.

I now got another question "When we are fully aware that's it's only God's Will that we do what we do, does this mean, according to Islam, that we should never blame someone else for doing the things he does, because we, in a way, indirectly would blame God, when blaming someone"?

I got one more question "Knowing whatever we do is God's Will, we should, according to Islam, choose to do the good things ourselves and we should abstain from doing the 'not so good things', so we should make the right choices (how we see them right, anyway)", so, we should not knowingly indulge in 'less good things" with the excuse "whatever I do, it's God who willed it", is that correct?

 

[stvdv]

And any choice we make as creatures can only be chosen and done Only if God Originally Allowed it.

I have 4 more questions. Would it be proper, according to Islam:
1) "To ask God that He let me make the right choice?". As it could mean that we believe God, being perfect, let us make wrong choices sometimes.
2) "To offer every act we do, to God saying Thy Will be done (also the ones we know are not good, but we cannot control ourselves, yet)?".
3) "To think that God is the doer of my actions, because He is the Allower of my actions, and whatever I do, is His Divine Will?".
4) "To ask God for anything, because it might mean that we don't trust Him to give us what we need?"

 

[mahmoud mrt]

I had a question, which you answered very clear below, thank you.

You’re much welcomed

I now got another question "When we are fully aware that's it's only God's Will that we do what we do, does this mean, according to Islam, that we should never blame someone else for doing the things he does, because we, in a way, indirectly would blame God, when blaming someone"?

This is a very important point.


The holy Qur’an and the prophet repeatedly instruct us to Not blame anybody for unintentional mistakes, because it’s God who willed it, They Also summon us to Forgive anybody for even intentional harm and mistakes done against us, Because again it’s God who Allowed it & Willed it.


Even God tells us in the holy Qur’an that He will Do the same with us, He will Forgive us for any mistake whether it’s unintentional or intentional if we truly repent and truly loved Him and wished for His mercy.

I got one more question "Knowing whatever we do is God's Will, we should, according to Islam, choose to do the good things ourselves and we should abstain from doing the 'not so good things', so we should make the right choices (how we see them right, anyway)", so, we should not knowingly indulge in 'less good things" with the excuse "whatever I do, it's God who willed it", is that correct?

Exactly, this is very accurate, And the holy Qur’an Mentioned this argument a number of times:

Chapter 16 verse 35 “And those who associate others with Allah say, "If Allah had willed, we would not have worshipped anything other than Him, neither we nor our fathers, nor would we have forbidden anything through other than Him." Thus did those do before them. So is there upon the messengers except [the duty of] clear notification?”

Knowing that everything cannot escape God’s will is Not an excuse to do bad deeds, because we’re in this journey of life to understand our true selves and confirm the truth, this is what we should focus on, Not to make excuses for our bad deeds.

 

[mahmoud mrt]

I have 4 more questions. Would it be proper, according to Islam:

1) "To ask God that He let me make the right choice?". As it could mean that we believe God, being perfect, let us make wrong choices sometimes.

Exactly, God Summons us in the holy Qur’an to ask for his guidance in any choice.


There is even a special prayer that the Prophet Sayed before any decision asking God for His guidance. And he told us Muslims that when you sincerely ask God for Guidance, He will Guide you by allowing the thing to happen if it’s good for you, and preventing it from happening if it’s bad for you.

And Yes, God is perfect, but He let us make wrong choices sometimes. But we can avoid this by asking Him for guidance before any choice.

2) "To offer every act we do, to God saying Thy Will be done (also the ones we know are not good, but we cannot control ourselves, yet)?".

Yes, every act we do we should offer it to God Almighty, even controversial acts that we think have a percentage of bad in them. Having this habit also increases our Awareness of every act we do and thus gradually helps us make better choices in the future.


The Exact phrase that every Muslim should say before intending to do any act is “In Shaa Allah” Meaning “Only if God Wills”, then in the actual act he should say “Besm Allah” Meaning “In God’s Name”.

3) "To think that God is the doer of my actions, because He is the Allower of my actions, and whatever I do, is His Divine Will?".

Yes, this is true.

4) "To ask God for anything, because it might mean that we don't trust Him to give us what we need?"

It’s from the core of Islamic belief to believe that any wish is in God’s ability to do, And Even God Almighty loves from us the habit of wishing and praying for anything even the greatest wishes.


We must trust God to give us what we need, but He orders us to pray and ask Him Also, because this prayer makes us love God more and feel grateful to Him.

 

[stvdv]

Yes, every act we do we should offer it to God Almighty, even controversial acts that we think have a percentage of bad in them. Having this habit also increases our Awareness of every act we do and thus gradually helps us make better choices in the future.

The Exact phrase that every Muslim should say before intending to do any act is “In Shaa Allah” Meaning “Only if God Wills”, then in the actual act he should say “Besm Allah” Meaning “In God’s Name”.

I have 1 more question:
On RF, in the DIRs, I am only allowed to ask questions, and even though I appreciate/like your (what Allah inspired you to write) replies a lot, I am not allowed to say thank you on RF in the DIRs (as it is not a question). How is this according to Islam, am I allowed to express in words my gratitude to other humans who helped me, because as you explained already, it's Allah who in reality is allowing us to do the things.

So I could imagine that we should only thank Allah, and abstain from thanking others. Also, now I try to think from Allah's POV, if I thank someone else for what he did, he might become proud, even believing he did it, and forgetting that Allah is the one doing everything. Or should we thank both Allah and the person, that would also make sense to me? Or is there a specific "thank you" in Arabic, where one says "thank you" to the person and at the same time give praise to Allah?

 

[mahmoud mrt]

I have 1 more question:

On RF, in the DIRs, I am only allowed to ask questions, and even though I appreciate/like your (what Allah inspired you to write) replies a lot, I am not allowed to say thank you on RF in the DIRs (as it is not a question). How is this according to Islam, am I allowed to express in words my gratitude to other humans who helped me, because as you explained already, it's Allah who in reality is allowing us to do the things.


So I could imagine that we should only thank Allah, and abstain from thanking others. Also, now I try to think from Allah's POV, if I thank someone else for what he did, he might become proud, even believing he did it, and forgetting that Allah is the one doing everything. Or should we thank both Allah and the person, that would also make sense to me? Or is there a specific "thank you" in Arabic, where one says "thank you" to the person and at the same time give praise to Allah?

The prophet taught us to Thank any person by the word “Gazak Allahu Khiran” Meaning “May God Reward you well”

And by this word you thank both the person and God.

Also any simple word like Just “Thank you” to the person is sufficient, but in your mind you should also say “Thank you God”

The holy Qur’an also summons us to thank the persons who have the most blessings on us like our parents:

Chapter 31 verse 14 “And We have enjoined upon man [care] for his parents. His mother carried him, [increasing her] in weakness upon weakness, and his weaning is in two years. Be grateful “Give Thanks” to Me and to your parents; to Me is the [final] destination.”


God is the creator of every thing and every act, but He Almighty Respects and rewards the human being because the human intention "Which God Already knows of course" is still a Characteristic of the human, thus God Almighty Respects that and orders us to respect it also.

 

[stvdv]

The prophet taught us to Thank any person by the word “Gazak Allahu Khiran” Meaning “May God Reward you well”

“Gazak Allahu Khiran”

 

[mahmoud mrt]

“Gazak Allahu Khiran”

And you also, may God bless you

I added a paragraph to my last post in reply to your question, just to remind not to miss it

God is the creator of every thing and every act, but He Almighty Respects and rewards the human being because the human intention "Which God Already know of course" is still a Characteristic of the human, thus God Almighty Respects that and order us to respect it also.

 

[IbnUmmah]

So nice to see a thread on this subject. Throughout the history of schools of thought of Ibrahamic tradition the dynamic between free will : predestination has been discussed over and over. Surely the prohibition of divination within the traditions are to do with these precise issues.

We know from Al Quran Kareem that at any given moment, we are presented with three paths; one for those foremost in righteous deeds, one straight leading directly upward toward sajud in the akhirah in the presence of Allah beyond the throne, and one astray. None of us know the moment of our own death, and so it is said a man may live his whole life a kaffir, yet die a muslim, and vice versa.

In regard to attempting to perceive the apparent dichotomy of predestination : free will I have been lead to perceive the paths as a weave; almost like a plait in a young girl's hair; thus why divination, known to be within the power of the satans can obviously misdirect and thus limit free will.

For there are surely signs that can direct to which path is which, some advising good actions like the ayat of the generous recital, whereas other signs can misdirect like those provided by diviners using their various forms.

 

[Link]

So nice to see a thread on this subject. Throughout the history of schools of thought of Ibrahamic tradition the dynamic between free will : predestination has been discussed over and over. Surely the prohibition of divination within the traditions are to do with these precise issues.

We know from Al Quran Kareem that at any given moment, we are presented with three paths; one for those foremost in righteous deeds, one straight leading directly upward toward sajud in the akhirah in the presence of Allah beyond the throne, and one astray. None of us know the moment of our own death, and so it is said a man may live his whole life a kaffir, yet die a muslim, and vice versa.

In regard to attempting to perceive the apparent dichotomy of predestination : free will I have been lead to perceive the paths as a weave; almost like a plait in a young girl's hair; thus why divination, known to be within the power of the satans can obviously misdirect and thus limit free will.

View attachment 94533


For there are surely signs that can direct to which path is which, some advising good actions like the ayat of the generous recital, whereas other signs can misdirect like those provided by diviners using their various forms.

The magic controls a lot but like you said, we can break the fabrics of fate and this especially if we get in contact with God's plan on laylatal Qadr and it's top secret.

 

[IbnUmmah]

The magic controls a lot but like you said, we can break the fabrics of fate and this especially if we get in contact with God's plan on laylatal Qadr and it's top secret.

Bismillah Ar Rahman Ar Raheem

And hold firmly to the rope of Allāh all together and do not become divided. And remember the favor of Allāh upon you - when you were enemies and He brought your hearts together and you became, by His favor, brothers. And you were on the edge of a pit of the Fire, and He saved you from it. Thus does Allāh make clear to you His verses that you may be guided.

3:103