Faith In Predestination ( Qada Wa Qadar)part6/7

Faith In Predestination ( Qada Wa Qadar)part6 Within the framework which these facts establish, we find that the answer to your question is an easy one. Allah tells us in the Qur’an that every human being accepts the faith or denies it accordingto his own will. He instructs Hismessenger to say to people:“ And say: The truth is from your Lord. Then whosoever wills, let him believe, and whosoever wills, let him disbelieve” (18:29).
This verse tells us that man chooses for himself whether to believe in Allah or not. Thisis the most important choice a man ever makes. If he has free choice over this particular question, then he must have the same over matters which are less serious. We cannot imagine a situation in human life where man can reach a higher stage without passing through a primary one. The sophisticated always includes the elementary. For man to be able to make a choice in a subject which affects all his life, he must have adequate training in exercising his ability to choose in simpler and less serious matters.
Allah also tells that He rewards man according to his actions. Numerous verses in the Qur’an tell us that no action will be allowed to pass unnoticed. For example:“ So whosoever does good equal to the weight of an atom (or a small ant), shall see it. And whosoever does evil equal to the weight of an atom (or a small ant), shall see it” (99:7,8).
If our actions carry a reward, good or bad, then they must be of our own choosing. If they were imposed on us through predestination, then we cannot be held responsiblefor them. Otherwise, the divine attribute of justice could not be fulfilled. Suppose you are a shopkeeper and employ an assistant to attend to customers’ needs when youare absent. Suppose that you come to the shop one eveningafter having been absent all day and your assistant tells you that he tried to reach youeverywhere to ask your permission to give a discount of 10 percent to a customer who wanted to buy a very large quantity of goods. Whenthe customer could not get that desired discount, he bought the goods from one of your competitors. Now, if you were to scold, reproach or punish your assistant for not acting in what you may describe as “a responsible manner,” you are unfair. He has acted within the restrictions you have imposedon him. You have left him no choice and he should never be punished for not exercising a choice which is not his.
The fact that our actions are either rewarded or punished by Allah means, by logic and necessity, that we have complete control over them. Otherwise, the reward and punishment cannot be fair.
Moreover, Allah has created us and equipped us with an ability to choose. That ability is set into operation and we can see its effects every minute of our lives. You have only to look at what you do and what you omit. When you are awakened by your alarm in the morning, whether you rise and get ready to go to work or you switch it off and go back to sleep is your own choice. If you do the latter andyou are reproached by your employer for being late, you do not complain. When you open your wardrobe you choose the shirt and trousersyou will wear that day. It is you who decides whether to go to work walking, by your car or to use public transport.No one imposes on you that you should invite your friend to dinner, and when you accept someone else’s invitation, that again is your own choice. These are simple matters and I have chosen these examples advisedly. When you realize that it is always your choice that determines what you do in such matters, it is easy to understand that we also exercise a choice in more complicated matters.
A person who does not fast inRamadhan can never claim that he has made that choice under duress. Nor does the one who fasts accept any suggestion that he is compelled to fast. The same applies to prayers and zakah,no matter how much is said about anyone’s need to maintain appearances. Even that is one’s own choice. Without this free choice, the whole idea of action and reward becomes impossible. Moreover, it would not fit with Allah’s justice. There is no doubt, then, that we have free choice, and we exercise it freely, and we bear the consequences.