occurring in one report are “that thou believe in qadar in the whole of it,” and in a second, “that thou believe in qadar, in the good of it and the evil of it.” A third version, “that thou believe in qadar, in the good of it and the evil of it, being from Allāh,” which is ordinarily met with in the books on beliefs (‘aqā’id) cannot be traced to any ḥadīth. It is very probable that the latter two additions were even later than the first formulation of belief in qadar. If we take the word qadar in the original sense in which it is used in the Holy Qur’ān, a belief “in qadar, in the whole of it,” would only mean that one must believe that everything in this universe is subject to a law and under a limitation, God alone being the Controller of all. If we take the next form, “that thou believe in qadar, in the good of it and the evil of it,” “the good and the evil” does not refer to the good or evil deeds of man, but to the good or bad circumstances under which man is placed to work out his destiny. The original words khair and sharr have been freely used in the Holy Qur’ān in this sense.23 Khair is anything which brings good, and its opposite is sharr (R.); and khair or sharr means doing good or doing evil only when a word meaning doing is added to it, the equivalent for which is ‘amal. The good of qadar and the evil of qadar, therefore, mean only whatever of good fortune or evil fortune comes to man. The meaning would therefore be that whatever of good or evil fortune comes to man, it must be accepted as coming from God; in other words a man must completely surrender himself to the Divine will under all circumstances. This, as already shown, is one of the great lessons of life which has been taught to the Muslim.

Ash ‘arī ’s view

The first man who formulated the orthodox views which are accepted by the general body of Muslims was Imām Abū-l-Ḥasan Ash‘arī, after whom his followers are known as Asha‘riah, and he plainly states this to be the significance of a faith in qadar; for, speaking of the beliefs of Ahl Sunnah and the followers of Ḥadīth, he says: “And that good (khair) and evil (sharr) are by the qadzā of Allāh and by His qadar, and they believe in the qadzā of Allāh and His qadar, in the good of it and the evil of it, the sweet of it and the bitter of it, and that they do not control for themselves any profit or any loss”