have guided you all. ” The conclusion is clear. If it were the Divine will that people should be compelled to one course that would have been the course of guidance. But men are not compelled to accept even the right way: much less could they be compelled to follow the wrong course. This is clearly laid down: “We have truly shown him the way, he may be thankful or unthankful” (76:3). And again: “The truth is from your Lord, so let him who please believe, and let him who please disbelieve” (18:29). The Divine will is therefore exercised in the raising up of prophets, and in the pointing out of the courses of good and evil, and human will is exercised in the choice of one course or the other.
It is this very law that is expressed at the end of ch. 76: “Surely this is a Reminder, so whoever will, let him take a way to his Lord. And you will not, unless Allāh please” (76:29, 30). And again to the same effect: “It is naught but a Reminder for the nations, for him among you who will go straight. And you will not, except Allāh please, the Lord of the worlds” (81:27-29). In both these places, the Holy Qur’ān is spoken of as having been revealed for the upliftment of man, yet, it is added, only he will derive benefit from it who chooses to go straight or takes a way to his Lord, that is, exercises his will in the right direction. Thus man is left to make his choice after God has sent down a revelation, and the will of man to make a choice is thus exercised only after the will of God has been exercised in the sending down of a revelation. If God had not pleased to reveal the reminder, man would have had no choice. Thus the words “you will not, unless Allāh please,” mean only this that if God had not pleased to send a revelation, man would not have been able to make his choice of good or evil.6
The doctrine of predestination, or the decreeing of a good course for one man and an evil course for another, thus finds no support from the Holy Qur’ān which gives to man the choice to follow one way or the other. But, it is said, the doctrine of the decreeing of good and evil follows from the doctrine of the foreknowledge of God. If God knows what will happen in the future, whether a particular man will take a good or an evil course, it follows that, that man must take that
6 The Western critics of Islām have hastily formed the opinion that the Holy Prophet was an opportunist, and that the Holy Qur’ān makes contradictory statements, preaching free will at one time and laying stress on predestination at another. Thus Macdonald writes in the Encyclopaedia of Islam under Kadar: “The contradictory statements of the Holy Qur’ān on free will and predestination show that Muḥammad was an opportunist preacher and politician, and not a systematic theologian.” The same view has been expressed by Sell: “The quotations made from the Holy Qur’ān in the last few pages will have shown that whilst some passages seem to attribute freedom to man, and speak of his consequent responsibility, others teach a clear and distinct fatalism” (Faith of Islam, p. 338). Both these writers have not taken the trouble to study the Holy Qur’ān for themselves, and have based the above opinion simply on the fact that the contending Muslim sections have, all of them quoted the Holy Qur’ān in their support, as if the numerous sects of Christianity had never quoted the Bible text in support of their contradictory assertions! The verse which I have discussed here is looked upon by Sell as the “famous text” in support of predestination. Yet if a little consideration had been given to the words, the meaning could have been easily discovered. There is rather a tendency to force the conclusion of fatalism even upon plain words.
I may here note some of the verses which Hughes has quoted in his Dictionary of Islam in support of the doctrine of predestination: “All sovereignty is in the Hands of God” (13:30); “God slew them and those shafts were God’s, not thine” (8:17). Now these two verses have apparently not the least bearing on predestination; the first speaks of God’s sovereignty and the second says that the defeat and slaughter of the overwhelming Quraish forces could not be brought about by the Holy Prophet, and that it was brought about by God. Two other verses quoted by Hughes have been wrongly translated, but in spite of that they do not lend any colour to the decree of good and evil: “All things have been created after fixed decree” (54:49); “The Lord hath created and balanced all things and hath fixed their destinies and guided them” (87:2, 3).
Now the translation of qadar by fixed decree and that of qaddara by He has fixed their destinies is opposed to all Arabic lexicons. The wish of the writer has here taken the place of rules of interpretation. The other verses quoted by him have been fully discussed by me, and none of them speaks of predestination.