Scattered Pearls – لُؤْلُؤًا مَّنْثُورًا

Which Way?

This was a question I asked my teacher… and this is the reply I got. I thought it was REALLY helpful so I thought I’d post it here for others to benefit from.

Can you explain the concept of naseeb and Qadr? Lines such as “If it’s in your naseeb, it’ll happen, if it’s not, then oh well TOO BAD” are often repeated. And you also hear people say that before we were born, our fate has been decided, either we’re destined for jahanam or jannah… And it doesn’t sound right to me because if our destiny is already decided, it wouldn’t be our fault?

What you are asking about is a very simple, basic and important thing which Islam, unlike most other religions, have made so clear, but subhanallah sooooo many Muslims do not understand it, or worse they don’t want to because pining everything on fate and destiny is much easier than facing the consequences of our choices.

OK now let me try to put it in the simplest ways:

First:  fate or predestined events has two types-

• One: events that you as a person have no control over what so ever i.e. natural disasters, certain illnesses, life and death, marriage, sudden financial trouble etc… these types of events are trials from Allah swt for one reason or the other and as any other test we have the choice to fail it by kicking and screaming or to try to score as high as possible by seeing who is behind that test and trusting Allah wisdom and reward.

• Two: events that you as a person have control over.i.e. making the right choices in every situation (work, studies, friends, choosing the right partner for your life, commitment to the values Allah taughtus in every aspect of our life, etc…).  In these cases we have the FREE will to do what we wish. wrong or right, Allah swt gave us the ability of both.  for example, there is no such thing as “well, if Allah want me to be good, i will be!” or “if Allah want me to go to college i will no matter what!” there is no doubt that if Allah want something to happen it will, but that is not how Allah told us things work.  He swt said ” you do your part first, every last bit of effort, then rely on Him for the results”.

Second:  Islam is a positive religion that does not like for a person to be lazy, or blame everything on fate and shaytan, but in the same time it provided a backup plan for when a person falls short in doing his/her part.  So, in order for a person not to fall into despair and wallow in self pity after a failure, Rasulullah (pbuh) taught us that you have to do two things:

• First: learn from your mistake, and promise Allah that it will not happen again Inshallah.

• Second: then and only then, remind your self that all things are in Allah’s hand and if he allowed what had happened it is for a reason and that He was able to spare you the trouble but He chose to let you experience what could be a lesson for you.

Most Muslims mistake two things together: Allah’s making the decision for you, and Allah knowing what your decision is going to be. there is a big difference between the two. Some people tell you, like you said, “it is written for you”. That is not true except in issues that you have no control over as I previously mentioned, but for every other thing, what is written is Allah’s knowledge of YOUR decision.  Since you know that for Allah swt there is no past present or future. Allah’s knowledge is encompassing, not limited by time or place.  Allah swt knows what OUR CHOICES are going to be and that is what is written.  So when you are tried with a certain choice (i.e should I tell the truth or lie to get out of trouble?) Allah swt knows what your choice is going to be and his knowledge is never wrong and YOUR choice is what he wrote, but he did not make the decision for you.

I always give people a simple example to explain the whole concept: If you have a friend that never keeps a secret and you told her something (as a secret), and because you know her very well you bet another friend and that she will hear it soon (from the first).  When what you had expected happens, and your entrusted friend tells your secret ask your self “did your knowledge of her inability to keep a secret, in anyway, affected her decision to tell?” of course not. She, on her own, decided to tell knowing that she was entrusted.
About the same thing applies to us.  Allah swt KNOWS what our choices are going to be and that is the only thing that is written (again remember that this applies to anything and everything that we have any say in and not things completely from Allah and out of our control),

I hope that I have answered your question.