QADAR

Praise be to Allâh, the Patient (as-Sabûr), the Thankful (ash-Shakûr), the Most High (al-‘Aliyy), the Greatest (al-Kabîr), the All-Hearing (as-Samî’), the All-Seeing (al-Basîr), the All-Knowing (al-‘Alîm), the All-Powerful (al-Qâdir), Whose power controls every single creature and Whose Will dominates every single event.

I bear witness that Muhammad is His Slave and Messenger, the best of His creation who did not spare any effort to advise this Ummah, the most patient in accepting the decree of Allâh and the most grateful for His blessings.

The following is my summery of 4 books; 1) Divine will and predestination By Umar S. Al-Ashqar. 2) Believing in Allah’s Qadar By Muhammed al-Jibaly. 3) Are we forced? By Shaikh Muhammad ibn Saleh al-Uthaimeen. 4)  Kitab Al-Iman, By Ibn Taymiyyah.

FAITH IN THE DIVINE DECREE

The belief in Al-Qadar is one of the pillars of Emaan. It is the sixth pillar of Faith. Therefore, whoever disbelieves in Allah’s Qadar is a disbeliever. Every Muslim should therefore believe in Qadar, the good of it (that which is sweet) and that which is bad (what which is bitter). [But ALL of the His decree is GOOD]

What is meant by belief in al-qada’ (the Divine will) is: certain belief that everything that happens in this universe happens by the will and decree of Allaah according to His knowledge.

1 – The meaning of al-qada’ wa’l-qadar in Arabic: The word qada’ means perfection and completion, and the word qadar means evaluating and planning.

2 – Definition of al-qada’ wa’l-qadar in Islamic terminology: Qadar means Allaah’s decree of all things from eternity, and His knowledge that they will come to pass at the times that are known to Him and in the specific manner that He has decreed and willed. They will happen the way they are meant to and the way they are created.

As we have mentioned belief in al-qadar (the Divine decree) is the sixth pillar of faith, and no one’s faith is complete without it. In Saheeh Muslim it is narrated that Ibn ‘Umar heard that some people were denying Qadar. He said: “If I meet these people I will tell them that I have nothing to do with them and they have nothing to do with me. By the One by Whom ‘Abd-Allaah ibn ‘Umar swore, if one of them had gold equivalent to Mount Uhud and he spent it, Allaah would not accept it from him unless he believed in al-qadar.”

The prophet of Allah said  ‘No slave of Allah will truly believe until he believes in Qadar its good and bad, until he knows that what has befallen him was not going to miss him and that what missed him was not going to befallen him.'(Tirmidhi)

‪Saalih al Munajjid said about Qadar‬‬‬; It is Allah’s plan for His creation. What He has shown us of it, we know and believe in, and what He has hidden from us, we accept and believe in. We do not dispute with Allaah concerning His actions and rulings with our limited minds and comprehension, rather we believe in Allah’s complete justice and wisdom, and that He is not to be asked about what He does, may He be glorified and praised.

There are many verses that speak about Qadr

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Ibn al-Qayyim said: Imaam Ahmad said that Qadr is the power/ability of Allah. Ibn Taymiyah said this definition (of Imaam Ahmed) is sufficient, satisfactory and un-equivocal. Abu al-Wafaa said: Denying this (qadar) means denying the power of the Lord to create and decree the actions of His slaves.

Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyah said: ‘Whoever does not accept the opinion of the salaf does not believe that Allah has power or He is Able, like the Jahamiyah and those who follow them, and the Mu’tazilah, both those who accept the idea of qadr but say that it means that man is compelled by qadar to do what he does, and those who reject the idea of qadar altogether. the essence of their opinion is that Allah is not able, and that He does not have sovereignty, for sovereignty requires either power, or the object of power or both. Whatever the case may be, He must have power, and whoever does not believe that He has true power does not believe that He has sovereignty.’ [Shifaa’ al-Aleel, 49]

He also said: ‘Those who deny Qadar do not believe in Tawheed, because those who deny Qadar say that the creator of good is different from the creator of evil. Those among our ummah who believe this say that the sins which occur do not happen by the Will of Allah, and they may also say that He does not know about them. They say that all the deeds of living beings happen without His power or creation. So they deny that He has an irresistible Will and complete Power. Hence Ibn Abbaas said: Qadar is the essence of Tawheed. Whoever worships Allah, the all-Mighty, alone and believes in Qadar has perfected his Tawheed, but whoever worships Allah alone but does not believe in Qadar, destroys his Tawheed by his disbelief. [Majmoo al-Fataawa Shaykh al-Islam, 8/258]

In his commentary on the ahaadeeth about Qadar in saheeh muslim, An-Nawawi said: In all of the ahaadeeth there is clear evidence that supports the view of Alh as-Sunnah concerning the belief in Qadar, and that all events, good or bad, beneficial or harmful, happen by the will and decree of Allah, the Exalted. [Shar an-Nawawi ‘ala Muslim 16/196]

Ibn Hajr said in his definition: ‘What is meant is that All knows how things will be and when they will happen, before He initiates them. Then He creates that which He already knows will happen. Hence everything that happens stems from His knowledge, power and will’ [Fath al-Baari]

Imaam ash-Shaafa’i was asked about Qadar, and he responded: ‘Whatever You want happens, even if I do not want it to, and what ever I want, if You do not want it to happen, it does not happen. You create mankind according to Your knowledge, and according to Your knowledge, young and old behave accordingly. You have blessed this one and forsaken that one; You have helped this one and not that one. Some of them are boomed and some are blessed; some are ugly and some are beautiful.’ [Al-I’tiqaad by Al-Bayhaqi, p. 162; Sharh Usool I’tiqaad Ahl as-Sunnah by Al-Laalkaa’i, 1/702]

Teaching the correct understanding of Qadar 

A discussion on Qadar that took place between Umar and Abu Ubayda bin Jarrah. When Khaleefah Umar ibn al-Khattab learned, while on his way to Ash-Sham (Syria) that it was afflicted with the plague he did not enter it, and returned back with his people. Abu Ubayda ibn al-Jarrah said to Umar: “O Ameer al-Mu`minen, are you running away from the decree (qadar) of Allah?” Umar replied, “If only someone other than you had said this, O Abu Ubayda! Yes, we are running away from the decree of Allah towards the decree of Allah. Do you not see that if you had a camel and you came to a valley where there were two patches of land, one green and fertile, and the other dry and barren, if you let it graze in the green land, you do so by the decree of Allah, and if you let it graze in the dry land, you do so by the decree of Allah.”  [Bukhari. See Fath al-Baari, 10/179, hadith no.5729]

Laalkaa’i narrarted that Umar addressed the people in Al-Jaabiyah (in Syria) and said ‘Whomever Allah sends astray, non can guide him’’ There was a christian in front of him, who said, ‘Allah does not send anyone astray’ When Umar repeated his statement, the priest started to brush his garment as an expression of his objection to Umar’s words. After his words had been translated  to him, Umar said: ‘You are lying, O’ enemy of allah! For Allah has indeed created you, and Allah has sent you astray, then He will cause you to die, and will send you to Hell, INSHAAALLAH. Allah created His creation, and when He created Adam, He spread out his progeny in His hand and decreed who would be the people of paradise, and what they would do, and who would be the people of hell and what they do. Then He (Allah) said, ‘these are for this, and these are for this’ And the people dispersed with no dispute concerning Qadar. [Shar Usool I’tiqaad Ahl as-Sunnah by Al-Laalkaa’I, 3/659]