Belief in Fate and Divine Decree is one of the fundamental aspects of the religion of

Belief in Fate and Divine Decree is one of the fundamental aspects of the religion of Islam that should be necessarily known to every Muslim. Imam Muslim narrated that Allah’s Messenger (PBUH) said, “Belief is to believe in Allah, His Angels, His Books, His Messengers, the Last Day, and Fate and Divine Decree whether for good or evil.”



Divine Decree is the relation of Allah’s Divine Knowledge and Will with creating things in a certain manner; while Fate is bringing into existence such things accordingly. The Holy Prophet (PBUH) pointed out that there is a relation between Monotheism on the one hand and Fate and Divine Decree on the other. As narrated by Al-Daylami in his book of Hadith “Musnad Al-Fardos”, the Holy Prophet (PBUH) said, “Belief in Fate is the system of Monotheism.” He (PBUH) also showed the psychological and spiritual consequences conduced by belief in Fate and Divine Decree. As narrated by Al-Hakim, he (PBUH) said, “Belief in Fate repels worry and sadness.” Allah, the Almighty, says “So call not on any other god with Allah, or you will be among those who suffer.” [XXVI, 213]



The Holy Prophet, however, forbade Muslims to indulge in such issueas that of Fate and Divine Decree or to probe their secrets, for man’s petty knowledge is too petty to embrace such a Divine matter as Allah’s Infinite Knowledge and Foreordainment. He (PBUH) said, “ If (the issue of) Fate is mentioned, keep silent.”



A true believer should believe that all human deeds and actions, and in fact all universal incidents, are occur in accordance with Fate and Divine Decree. But Allah All Mighty willed that man has a free will which is the basis for religious obligations, duties, trial, reward and punishment. By virtue of such a free will, man does good or evil deeds that deserve Allah’s reward or punishment. To this effect Allah Most Wise says: “On no soul does Allah place a burden greater than it can bear. It gets every good that it earns and it suffers every ill that it earns.” [II, 286]



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Fate and Divine Decree are of two types, the first of which is beyond man’s power, ability or will; and, therefore, man is not responsible for, such as the movement of heavenly objects, the weather, rainfall, growth of plants, people’s changing conditions and circumstances of health or illness, strength or weakness, riches or poverty, life or death…etc.

Since Allah, Glory be to Him, is the Most Wise, His Infinite Divine Wisdom necessitates that all His acts be most wise. And since Fate and Divine Decree, which are completely beyond man’s will or ability, are part of Allah’s acts, they related to Allah’s Utmost Wisdom, which is, in turn, related to the Absolute Good. In this context, Allah, Praise be to Him, says, “ Say: O Allah ! Lord of Power ( and Rule )! You give power to whom You please; You endue with honor whom You please; and You bring low whom You please. In Your Hand is all good. Verily, over all things do You have power.” [II; 26]



The second type of Fate and Divine Decree is related to man’s work. Man has been granted a free will which is the basis for obligation and trial. Allah has also provided man with all the necessary equipment that enables him to carry out such obligations and pass successfully such trials. He Most Merciful subjugated all that is in the heavens and earth for him as a means by which he gets to know his Lord and turn to Him with true Faith and sincere gratitude. He has also endowed him with an intelligent mind by which he gets to know his Lord and worship Him Alone with no partners. In this context, Allah All Mighty says, “And the Firmament has He raised high, and He has set up the Balance (of Justice).” [XXXXXIV; 7] He, the Almighty, has sent for mankind His Prophets and Messengers with Books of Truth and Divine Guidance: “Whosoever follows My Guidance will not lose his way, nor fall into misery.” [79; 40-41] He also endowed man with desires by which he exalts himself to his Lord in gratitude or patience. In this context, Allah All High says, “But as for him who fears standing before his Lord, and restrained himself from impure evil desires and lusts, verily, Paradise will be his abode.” [LXXIX; 40,41]



Man has been granted a free will as a basis for obligation and trial. Good wise use of such a free will is conducive to Allah’s pleasure and generous recompense in both abodes. So long as man has been granted a free will through which he performs his optional works for which he is fully responsible within the limits of the abilities granted to him by Allah, such a free will shall never be taken from him. The moment that man’s will is directed towards doing something out of his own choice, Allah’s will interferes to enable him to do it and to drive man’s optional act towards the others who deserve good or evil things done to them; and, hence, man’s good or evil free will is made to run in accordance with Allah’s Infinite Wisdom. To this effect, Allah All Mighty says, “Thus do We make the wrong-doers turn to each other, because of what they earn.” [VI; 129].



In this regards it is necessary to refer to the fact that the saying which goes, “Verily, Allah is the Real Doer and Creator of man’s deeds” does not mean that Allah compels man to do such deeds; neither does it mean that Allah accepts or approves of such deeds. It is also necessary to confirm that the saying that “Allah knows what has been, what is and what will be” does not mean that Allah’s Knowledge eliminates man’s choice and free will, for Allah’s Knowledge does not compel man to do things he does not want to do; otherwise Allah’s Knowledge would fall in contradiction with such notions as obligation, trial, recompense, reward and punishment, for it would be impossible that Allah bids man to do something and compel him to do it at the same time. Allah, the Almighty, addresses this matter, “Those who associate partners with Allah (for worship) will say: ‘If Allah had wished, we would not have associated partners with Him, nor would our fathers; nor would we have had any taboos.’ So did their ancestors argue falsely until they tasted of our Wrath. Say: “Have you any (certain) knowledge? If so, produce it before us. You certainly follow nothing but conjecture; you do nothing but lie.’ Say: ‘With Allah is argument that reaches home; if it had been His Will, He

could indeed have guided you all’.” [VI; 148-149]

The above crystal clear verses completely refute the doctrine of Fatalism ( an Islamic school of thought teaching predestination and the inescapability of Fate).



A summary of the Sunnite doctrine concerning the issue of Fate and Divine Decree may be derived from a saying by Hasan bin Ali, may Allah be pleased with them, which goes, “Whosoever does not believe in Allah’s Divine Decree is a disbeliever; whosoever ascribes his sins and misdeeds to Allah is an insolent profligate. Verily, Allah is not obeyed by compulsion; neither is He disobeyed due to weakness. He All High is the Owner whereof He made them owners, and the Powerful over which He made them powerful over. If they do deeds of obedience, He does not prevent them from doing the things that they desire to do; and if they do deeds of disobedience, He is not the one who compelled them to do as such. Had He compelled His slaves to be obedient, there would be no reward; had He compelled them to be disobedient, there would be no punishment; and had He neglected them, it would have been a disability on His part. If they do deeds of obedience, it is all due to His Favor; and if they do deeds of disobedience, He will have an excuse to punish them.”



Al-Hassan Al-Bassri, may Allah have mercy on him, gave proper responses with regards to the question of Fate and Divine Decree. When he was told, “Allah compels His servants”, he said, “Allah is more just than that.” And when he was asked, “Has He left the whole matter up to them?”, he answered, “Allah is mightier than that.” Then he said: “Had He compelled them, He would not have tortured them. Had He left the whole matter up to them, Hi Commands would have been meaningless.”



Some people blame Fate and Divine Decree in order to deny responsibility for their sins and misdeeds, which is absolutely unacceptable and unjustified.

It is by no means excusable to deny the free will which Allah has given to man, the intelligent mind by which man distinguishes good from evil and Divine Legislation which contains explanation of all things that have to do with Allah’s Laws and Commands.

One day, a robber was brought before Omer Bin Al-Khattab, may Allah be pleased with him. Omer asked the man, “Why did you do that?” The robber answered, “O Commander Of Muslims! It is all because of Allah’s Divine Decree.” Omer commanded his men to amputate the robber’s hand and to lash him eighty times. Then Omer said: “I had your hand amputated for your robbery; and I had you lashed for your lying to Allah and blaming His Divine Decree. Allah’s Divine Decree does not take you from choice of deeds to compulsion.”

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Orthodox Muslims see that there is a significant difference between Divine Decree and man’s work. Divine Decree is Allah’s Work which has to do with His Infinite Divine Will and Wisdom; and, therefore, it is all Just, all Good, all Wise. But man’s work is man’s ostensible deeds and actions, which might be just or unjust, good or evil, fair and unfair. Muslims, therefore, have to stand against people’s evil or unjust deeds and strive to reform them. They should never give way or languish before people’s evil deeds, because acceptance of disbelief is disbelief of its own, and contentment with injustice is injustice. Allah All High addresses this issue, “And those who, when an oppressive wrong is inflicted on them, (are not cowed but) help and defend themselves” [XXXXII; 39]. When a Muslim is unable to remove or resist people’s bad work, he has to pray to Allah in humility to save him from it. Allah, the Most Merciful says, “Before you (O Muhammad!) We sent Prophets to many nations, and We afflicted the nations with suffering and adversity, that they might learn humility. When the suffering reached them from us, why then did they not learn humility? On the contrary their hearts became hardened’ and Satan made their (sinful) acts seem alluring to them.” [VI; 42-43]

Supplication to Allah has a great influence on warding off Fate. The Prophet (PBUH) said, “Invocation wards off Fate.” He (PBUH) also said, “Nothing wards off Fate except invocation.” Sincere invocation, therefore, is one of the most beneficial medicines. It is the cure which repels, heals, removes, and reduces affliction. It is indeed Muslims’ weapon.

Al-Baijuri, the venerable scholar, confirms that sincere invocation avails to soften non-revocable Fate and to ward off revocable Fate.



No intelligence, carefulness, or cautiousness has benefit to ward off Fate or to soften it; but sincere invocation after truthful repentance does. The Prophet (PBUH) said: “Caution does not prevent Fate; and invocation helps in what has inflicted and what has not inflicted.”



Belief in Fate and Divine Decree does not clash with taking proper measures in dealing with life issues. This is because people’s interests are not fulfilled except by repelling Fates by each other. Allah commands us to repel a sin by a good deed, which are both of Fate and Divine Decree. In this context, Al-Bukhari narrated that when Omar Bin Al-Khattab and some Companions of the Prophet (may Allah be pleased with them) headed for Damascus and arrived at Al-Jabiah, they were informed about a great number of dead people and a dangerous disease. They divided into two parties. The first said: “Let’s go back for safety.” The second said: “Let’s enter and put our trust in Allah. We shall not run away from Allah’s Decree or from death.” They asked Omar about his opinion. He said: “Let’s go back for safety.” Those who disagreed with his opinion said: “Shall we run away from Allah’s Decree?” He responded: “Yes; we run away from Allah’s Decree into Allah’s Decree! Do you see if one of you had some sheep and descended a valley with two sides, one is fertile and the other is barren, wouldn’t it be of Allah’s Decree if he grazed his sheep on either the fertile side or the barren one?!”



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One of the fruits of firm balanced belief in Fate and Divine Decree is the straight adherence to Allah’s Commandments and seeking His good pleasure. To this effect, Allah All Mighty says, “and unto Him goes back every affair (for decision)” [XI, 123] “Whatever of Mercy Allah may bestow on mankind, none can withhold it; and whatever He may withhold, none can grant it thereafter. And He is the Exalted in Power, Full of Wisdom.” [XXXV; 2]








Another fruit of true belief is courage. The companions of the Holy Prophet (PBUH) knew no cowardice or weak-heartedness, for there kept resounding in their minds Allah’s words, “Say, ‘nothing will happen to us except what Allah has decreed for us; He is our Protector’; and on Allah let the believers put their trust.” [IX; 51]








A third fruit of true belief is endurance, patience, contentment, and submission to Allah. Whenever a true believer is visited by mischief or distress, he remembers Allah’s words, “But give glad tidings to those who patiently persevere, Who say, when afflicted with calamity, ‘To Allah we belong and unto Him is our return’.” [II; 155-156]



To sum up it can be said that belief in Fate and Divine Decree is an essential pillar of true Faith and a fundamental principle of the tenet of Islam that should be necessarily be known to all Muslims.

by doctor nabulsi