Sunday, 22 December 2024

Salvation or Damnation is Determined in Advance

 بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

الصلاة والسلام عليك يا رسول الله


We Sunni Muslims believe that every soul has already been destined to either Heaven or Hell prior to its creation. Abdullah bin Amru bin al-As said:

خَرَجَ عَلَيْنَا رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم وَفِي يَدِهِ كِتَابَانِ فَقَالَأَتَدْرُونَ مَا هَذَانِ الْكِتَابَانِ فَقُلْنَا لاَ يَا رَسُولَ اللَّهِ إِلاَّ أَنْ تُخْبِرَنَا ‏.‏ فَقَالَ لِلَّذِي فِي يَدِهِ الْيُمْنَىهَذَا كِتَابٌ مِنْ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ فِيهِ أَسْمَاءُ أَهْلِ الْجَنَّةِ وَأَسْمَاءُ آبَائِهِمْ وَقَبَائِلِهِمْ ثُمَّ أُجْمِلَ عَلَى آخِرِهِمْ فَلاَ يُزَادُ فِيهِمْ وَلاَ يُنْقَصُ مِنْهُمْ أَبَدًاثُمَّ قَالَ لِلَّذِي فِي شِمَالِهِهَذَا كِتَابٌ مِنْ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ فِيهِ أَسْمَاءُ أَهْلِ النَّارِ وَأَسْمَاءُ آبَائِهِمْ وَقَبَائِلِهِمْ ثُمَّ أُجْمِلَ عَلَى آخِرِهِمْ فَلاَ يُزَادُ فِيهِمْ وَلاَ يُنْقَصُ مِنْهُمْ أَبَدًا فَقَالَ أَصْحَابُهُ فَفِيمَ الْعَمَلُ يَا رَسُولَ اللَّهِ إِنْ كَانَ أَمْرٌ قَدْ فُرِغَ مِنْهُ فَقَالَسَدِّدُوا وَقَارِبُوا فَإِنَّ صَاحِبَ الْجَنَّةِ يُخْتَمُ لَهُ بِعَمَلِ أَهْلِ الْجَنَّةِ وَإِنْ عَمِلَ أَىَّ عَمَلٍ وَإِنَّ صَاحِبَ النَّارِ يُخْتَمُ لَهُ بِعَمَلِ أَهْلِ النَّارِ وَإِنْ عَمِلَ أَىَّ عَمَلٍ ثُمَّ قَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم بِيَدَيْهِ فَنَبَذَهُمَا ثُمَّ قَالَ ‏فَرَغَ رَبُّكُمْ مِنَ الْعِبَادِ فَرِيقٌ فِي الْجَنَّةِ وَفَرِيقٌ فِي السَّعِيرِ

The Messenger of Allah, may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him, came out to us with two books in his hand and said: “Do you know what these two books are?” We said: “No, O Messenger of Allah, unless you tell us.” So he said to the one in his right hand: “This is a book from the Lord of the worlds. In it are the names of the people of Paradise, the names of their fathers and their tribes. Then there is a summary at the end of them, there being no addition to them nor deduction from them forever.” Then he said to the one on his left, “this is a book from the Lord of the worlds, in which are the names of the people of the Fire and the names of their fathers and their tribes. Then there is a summary at the end of them, there being no addition to them nor deduction from them forever.” So his Companions asked: “Then why perform deeds, O Messenger of Allah, if the matter is already concluded?” He said: “Seek to do what is right and draw nearer, for indeed the inhabitant of Paradise shall have his work sealed off with the deeds of the people of Paradise, whichever deeds he did. And indeed the inhabitant of Fire, shall have his work sealed off with the deeds of the people of Fire, whichever deeds he did.” Then the Messenger of Allah motioned with his hands, casting them down and said: “Your Lord finished with the slaves, a group in Paradise, and a group in the Blaze.” (Jami’ at-Tirmidhi; Kitab al-Qadar)

The belief in Qadar, that Allah has measured and determined everything in advance, is one of the Six Articles of Faith, and one of the fundamental doctrines of Islam. It is rejected by the Qadariyyah, those who believe that man creates his own deeds and therefore determines his own end, having full agency in the matter. And this doctrine that the name of every soul has already been written in advance in a book indicating whether it is saved or damned is also taught in the Bible: “And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire” (Revelation 20:15, KJV)

The Prophet Muhammad’s, peace be upon him, Companions understandably asked him about the need to perform good deeds if every soul’s salvation or damnation has already been determined. The Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, explained that the deeds themselves have also been determined. In another Hadith, he answered with the following words:

‏‏كُلٌّ يَعْمَلُ لِمَا خُلِقَ لَهُ أَوْ لِمَا يُسِّرَ لَهُ

Everyone will do the deeds which were created for him or which are made easy for him” (Sahih al-Bukhari)

Here another truth is revealed which is that not only are the deeds which mark a soul for either salvation or damnation created and decreed for it by Allah but that those deeds come easily to that soul. This is not to say that deeds alone are sufficient to effect either salvation or damnation for the soul. Rather, Islam teaches that it is the grace and mercy of God, or in the case of the damned, the lack thereof, as the Holy Prophet, peace be upon him, said:

وَاعْلَمُوا أَنَّهُ لَنْ يَنْجُوَ أَحَدٌ مِنْكُمْ بِعَمَلِهِ

Know that none among you is saved because of his deeds”

When the Companions asked him if he is excluded from this, he, peace be upon him, answered:

وَلاَ أَنَا إِلاَّ أَنْ يَتَغَمَّدَنِيَ اللَّهُ بِرَحْمَةٍ مِنْهُ وَفَضْلٍ

Not even I, except that Allah should wrap me in His mercy from Him and grace” (Sahih Muslim)

From this we understand that no soul, not even the most righteous, is justified in being saved on account of its good deeds. Every single soul requires Allah’s mercy and grace for salvation. Iqbal the poet was dead wrong when he said:

عمل سے زندگی بنتی ہے جنت بھی جہنم بھی يہ خاکی اپنی فطرت ميں نہ نوری ہے نہ ناری ہے

Deeds are life, as are Paradise and Gehinnom. This creation of dust is, in its nature, neither of light nor of fire”

The Holy Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, said:

إِنَّ اللهَ خَلَقَ آدَمَ ثُمَّ ‌أَخَذَ ‌الْخَلْقَ ‌مِنْ ‌ظَهْرِهِ وَقَالَ هَؤُلَاءِ فِي الْجَنَّةِ وَلَا أُبَالِي وَهَؤُلَاءِ فِي النَّارِ وَلَا أُبَالِي

Allah created Adam, then took the creation from his back and said: “These are in Paradise and I do not care, and these are in Hellfire and I do not care” When someone asked what then is the point of doing deeds, he, peace be upon him, answered:

عَلَى مَوَاقِعِ الْقَدَرِ

You will do according to your destiny (Musnad Ahmad)

Therefore, the Believer should never take the matter of doing good deeds lightly, let alone consider them unnecessary. From his perspective it is unknown whether he is truly destined for salvation or damnation, and by suspending his routine of good deeds and obedience to Allah thinking that there is no point to them since his fate is sealed he may find in the Afterlife that he was indeed destined for damnation. His turning away from good deeds led him to unbelief because of his faulty thinking but all of that was destined too. Therefore, let not Satan deceive any man into thinking good deeds and obedience to Allah is unnecessary. Cling to the belief in Allah’s absolute sovereignty and control while allowing the blessing of such a faith to motivate him to perform good deeds with greater enthusiasm out of gratitude to Him.

There are those who argue that this Islamic faith of ours that Allah has already written in advance either salvation or damnation for every soul is contrary to justice. They claim it means that humans are nothing but puppets on a string with no agency and no freedom to choose either good or evil. Without entering too deeply into the philosophical nitty gritty of this age old debate, it is enough to understand that Allah Himself has decreed a limited degree of freedom to every soul to choose whether to obey Allah or succumb to the temptations of the Devil or to the inclinations of its own self. But faith, fear and love of Allah empowers a Believer with divine aid to resist temptation, and generate a transformation of his or her heart to do that which is good. It is the choice to believe that is therefore the most critical choice that is put before each and every one of us. From another angle, we should try to understand that attempting to philosophically or logically resolve the “problem of evil” and the apparent conflict between human free will and divine decree will never truly yield a satisfactory answer. Satisfaction itself is granted by Allah for the one who has faith in Him and His total power, while also confessing that justice is one of His attributes. These debates usually do not reckon for the limitation of the human mind to understand a reality that transcends this dimension. Those that went astray were the ones who said Allah’s control is limited, or that man is independent of Allah in certain matters, or that Allah does not have definite knowledge of all that shall occur in the future, or that man creates his own deeds and is thus a partner with God in the act of creation. From the other extreme were the Mujbirah (often mistranslated to mean the fatalists). Jabr does not mean fate but coercion. They say that man is compelled in his acts and is therefore free of responsibility. Both these extremes operate on the same false assumption, destiny absolves the creation of responsibility for their deeds, one side therefore rejects destiny to maintain human responsibility and God’s justice, while the other accepts destiny while absolving humans of responsibility and effectively negating justice for God. The Quran is clear that only Allah possesses autonomy and that man is utterly helpless before Him. The belief that anything or anyone is intrinsically free, even in a limited domain, from the reach of God is the essence of polytheism.

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