Predestination in Islam

Qadar is the concept of divine destiny in Islam. As God is all-knowing and all-powerful, everything that has happened and will happen in the universe is already known. At the same time, human beings are responsible for their actions, and will be rewarded or punished accordingly on Judgement Day.
Predestination is one of Sunni Islam's six articles of faith. In Sunni discourse, those who assert free-will are called Qadariyya, while those who reject free-will are called Jabriyya.
Some early Islamic schools did not accept the doctrine of predestination; Predestination is not included in the Five Articles of Faith of Shi'i Islam. At least a few sources describe Shi'i Muslims as denying predestination.

Definition

In Islam, "predestination" is the usual English language rendering of a belief that Muslims call . As per the Sunni understanding, the phrase means "the divine decree and the predestination"; al-qadr more closely means " power", deriving from the root ق د ر, which denotes concepts related to measuring out, aiming, calculating, preparing, being able, and having power.
Another source states, that according to scholars:

"the divine decree consists of the entire and complete judgment forever",
"the divine measurement consists of the particulars of the judgment and its details".

Taqdeer also refers to predestination in Islam, the "absolute decree of the Divine", and comes from the same Q-D-R three consonant root, but is of a different "grammatical orders and thus not considered interchangeable" with Qadr. In Arabic it literally means ‘making a thing according to a measure’, or ‘occurrence of events according to pre-defined measures, standards or criteria’. It is found in verses Q.41:12, Q.36:38, Q.6:96.

History

Based on what has been preserved of the poetry of pre-Islamic Arabs, it is thought that they believed that the date of the person's death, was predetermined "no matter what he or she did". A person's "provision" or "sustenance", essentially food, was also pre-determined. The concept of ajal is also found in the Quran in several verses, especially one revealed in reply to criticism of Muḥammad's military strategy that some Muslims complained led to unnecessary loss of life:

"If you had been in your houses, those for whom killing was written down would have sallied out to the places of their falling".

The Qurʾān also speaks specifically of the supply of rizq, or provision being in God control:

"He lavishes rizq on whom He wills, or stints it"

The question of how to reconcile God's absolute power with human responsibility for their actions led to "one of the earliest sectarian schisms" in Islam, between the Qadarites, who believed in total free will of humans ; and the Jabriyya, who believed in "absolute" divine "determinism and fatalism".
One statement of the Qadarite school doctrine arguing against determinism stated:

God knows that men will commit crimes, but his knowledge does not impel them so to do.
God wills nothing but that which is good 3
Everything happens by the decree and predestination of God except evil works

Ma'bad al-Juhani was considered as the forerunner of the predestination rejectionists in Islamic community as he questioned the essence of Fate. Abd al-Rahman al-Awza'i has recorded that Ma'bad was influenced by an anonymous Christian theologian figure called Susan. Ma'bad was crucified by the orders of the Caliph Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan in Damascus.
The Umayyad, during their reign, took the theological position that God had bestowed the caliphate on them, just as the Qurʾān described the bestowing of a caliphate on Adam. Among their opponents were Qādarī who asserted "human free will in some form", such as that the good acts of any person come from God, but their bad acts come from themselves. The Mu‘tazili school argued that since justice is "the true essence" of divinity, "God can only do and only wishes what is salutary for human beings". He not only orders people to do that which is good and forbids them to do that which is reprehensible, he abstains from doing evil Himself. The evil in the world comes instead from Man's/human beings' free will. Man, therefore, is "the genuine “creator” of his actions". After the dispute between the Qadarites and Jabarites, the majority of Muslim communities at the time followed the middle path dictated by the Quran and Sunnah, "between the two extremes".
Following the overthrow of the Umayyad dynasty by the Abbasid in 750 CE, the Qādarī movement "either faded out or was absorbed into the rationalist Muʿtazila movement".
The next two schools that felt the need to reconcile the idea of an omnipotent God with a just God, were the Muʿtazila and the Ashʿaris.
In 12th CE, Al-Shahrastani from Shafi'i school has expanded the heresiology in Islamic academic establishment, where he classified Jabriyya as movement into two groups, the Jabariyyah al-Khalishah, and the Jabariyyah Mutawassithah. Al-Shahrastani explained that the first group was the first generation was consisted of Ja'd ibn Dirham and his successors, who completely rejected Indeterminism of mortal's will. Meanwhile, the second group was the Ash'arism, who only rejected certain aspects of "mortal's will" attribute, by adopting Jabriyya element of doctrine of assimilating willed act with compelled act.
Recently in modern era, the Hanbali school fatwa site IslamQA stated that predestination is one of those issues which God urges Muslims to not delve too much; including the fate of person's if he or she would enter heaven or hell. Islamic modernism such as Muḥammad ʿAbduh, and Fazlur Rahman Malik, viewed that God knew the mortals acts. Justin Parrott from muslimmatters.org magazine, has stated that "from a purely rational standpoint", it may seem impossible for God to have absolute knowledge and power over all action in the universe, and for humans to be responsible for their actions. Thus, Parrott stated that certain divine realities such as predestination are outside the limits of the human mind.

Sunni view

Sunni scholastic communities enumerate Qadar as one aspect of their creed, as their established creed has it:

"Belief in Qadr or predestination as one of the six article of faith,
"God has foreknowledge of everything... Even if the fate of man's soul is predetermined, he has no way of knowing what that fate is, and therefore it behooves him to strive for Allah's favor.".

The sources of the creed are based from Qur'an chapters of Al-Muddaththir, al-Ahzab, al-Qamar, Al-Baqara, Sahih al-Bukhari 6/84 and Sahih Muslim, vol. 4, p. 1393, among others. The Tabi'un traditions has reported that Companions of the Prophet such as Ubayy ibn Ka'b, Abd Allah ibn Mas'ud, Hudhayfah ibn al-Yaman, and Zayd ibn Thabit has taught them that the belief of predestination is obligatory in Islam. Abd Allah ibn Umar ibn al-Khattab, son of caliph Umar; even goes so far that he branded the early Qadariyah as "Magi of this era".

Sins and misfortunes

According to Al-Nawawi's Forty Hadith, The instruments in fate is based on four things, components aspects:

– Al-ʿIlm – Knowledge: i.e., that God is the most knowing about everything
– Kitabah – Writing: i.e., that God has written everything that exists including the destiny of all creatures in al-Lawhu 'l-Mahfuz prior to creation. Also called God's "pre-recording".
– Mashii'ah – Will: i.e., that anything God wills will happen, and what He does not will will not happen.
– Al-Khalq – Creation and formation: i.e., that everything is God's creation, including the actions of His creations, and even including the theoretical "intentional inexistence/nonexistent objects" also created by God.

Al-Shafi'i, founder of Shafi'i Madhhab, stated that all fates are under the command of Divine's will. His successor, Al-Muzani, further explained the reason why Iblis, immorality, and bad deeds were created by God; God's knowledge about the outcome was to demonstrate the causality of consequences of a person's choice in the aftermath, where such deeds would become the Hearing session's materials against the person for the trial during the Judgement Day in Islam. This ruling also used by Ibn Taymiyya to declare that committing grave sins such as suicide are essentially not consented by God. Meanwhile, Ibn Taymiyya stated that this means humans cannot blame fate for their own misdeeds, since such things were demonstrated and acted upon by themselves during their lifetime, though already prescribed in their fate.
Regarding the non-consensual calamity, misfortune, or affliction, Ibn Kathir commented about At-Taghabun that a calamity is a concept included within Qadar or destiny, which could only happen or be averted by God's will. Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya asserted in the context of fate for a muslim, that calamities are created by God as a test of faith. Meanwhile, Muhammad Al-Munajjid quoted Qur'an that misfortune should be thought with positivity for Muslims as it is meant to be a "blessing in disguise".

Predestination and free will

Incompatibility between predestination and free will is not an issue in major Sunni Islam sources, as they held the rationale that both could coexist. In orthodox Islam, God's control over what happens in his creation is absolute. "Allah has decreed all things from eternity". He knows that they will happen, when they will happen, how they will happen, and "He has written that and willed it". This includes "the pettiest of human or other, affairs", not withstanding "the grandeur of God's cosmic role".
In response about the polemical debate regarding the issue of "Will of God" vs "Will of creatures/mortals", Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani classified destiny as a whole consisting of two parts, Qada (God's decree which precede Qadar) and Qadar. Catherine Smith, an anthropologist and ethnographist who researched about Aceh Muslim society which was afflicted by the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami trauma; has illustrated the concept of Qada and Qadar based on her interviews with the local Muslims, who regards the Tsunami disaster as a "Qada"; or fixed destiny which should be accepted as inevitable, while Qadar was something to be strived upon since its result is still indeterminate from the perspective of human.
Ibn Taymiyya has classified fate into several stages of Taqdir, where Qadar is determined and prescribed/sent to creation. Fate is of 5 types in accordance of its priorities:

Taqdir al-‘Aam / Taqdir Azali : Sunni muslims believe the divine destiny is the highest authority of God which Preserved Tablet before any creations. The content of this Taqdir are all that has happened and will happen, which will come to pass as written. According to Al-Tahawi, divine destiny is the secret of God. Not even archangels or Prophets and messengers in Islam had knowledge about Qadr. Ibn Taymiyyah based this kind of Taqdir from Al-Hajj and Sahih Muslim chapter VIII Hadith number 51. This Taqdir encompassed and controlled another Taqdirs.
Taqdir al-Bashari : The next stage of Taqdir after the creation of Adam. God took out all of the progeny of Adam, and asked them "Am I not your Lord?" and all of the humans responded "We testify that You are our Lord!" Then Allah decreed to them who shall go to paradise and who shall go to hell. This Taqdir is encompassed, controlled, and could be intervened by Taqdir al-Azali. The basis of this Taqdir are Al-A'raf and a Hadith narrated by a companion of Muhammad named Hisham ibn Hakim, which was recorded by Ibn Abi Asim in his work, as-Sunnah, and Al-Suyuti in his work, Al-Dur al-Manthur.
Taqdir al-'Umri : This occurs when people are in the womb of their mothers, specifically 120 days phase from Zygote to fetus. God sends an angel to put a soul into the body, and the angel writes down the decree that God has made; their life-spans, their actions, their sustenances and whether they will be dwellers of paradise or a dweller of hell. This Taqdir is encompassed, controlled, and could be intervened by Taqdir al-Azali, and Taqdir al-Bashari. The basis of this Taqdir is a hadith about Taqdir al-'Umri which is recorded in Sahih al-Bukhari,, Sahih Muslim,, dan record of Ibn Majah,.
Taqdir Sanawi / Taqdir Hawl : an annual decree of fate which occur every Night of Qadr where God sends down his decrees from heaven to earth, in it he destines the actions of creation for the next year. The word Qadar should not be confused with Qadr; Qadar is destiny, Qadr is that which has been destined. The basis of this Taqdir are ad-Dukhan and al-Qadr. This is encompassed, controlled, and could be intervened by Taqdir al-Azali, and Taqdir al-Bashari.
Taqdir Yawmi : God decrees the daily fate of his creations; their acts, wills, emotions, and interactions. The basis of this Taqdir is ar-Rahman This Taqdir is encompassed, controlled, and could be intervened by Higher Taqdirs.

Ibn Taymiyya explained that these levels of fate is that mortal's fate depends on the good deeds or bad deeds of a person, indicating the freedom of choice which could change the predetermined fate of 'Umri, Sanawi, and Yawmi, thus Ibn Taymiyya concluded that the "free will" of humans and jinn within the frameworks of fate are located under al-'Aam and al-Bashari. Al-Uthaymin quoted a hadith recorded by Al-Hakim al-Nishapuri which stated "a prayer could change one's destiny", that means the action of good deed such as prayer are indeterminate from the perspective of Taqdir Yawmi, which could change the predestined priority of Taqdir al-'Umri; However, such changes of fate was already recorded and calculated from the perspective of Taqdir al-‘Aam/Azali; the highest order of fates stage. Meanwhile, Taqdir Sanawi and al-Umri is regulated by angels, they also still depended to Taqdir al-Bashari; which are second only to Taqdir al-'Aam in priority. These two highest Taqdirs are controlled directly by God, where Taqdir al-'Aam also control and bound the entire universe and creations, including the angels themselves, as the angels did not have knowledge about Taqdir al-Bashari, and Taqdir al-'Aam, as per the explanation of Ibn Hajar warns "that providence" is such a secret that even God's most obedient and holy creatures were not let in on the mystery. As a result, the scholars emphasized that providence is a secret of Allah and that "going too deeply into it philosophically" will lead to "misguidance". Meanwhile, in the 35th article of Tahawi creed, Saleh Al-Fawzan has referenced Al-Insan and At-Takwir to support the notion of al-Tahawi to refute the Jabriyya and Qadariyya, that both will of God and will of creatures existed with different priorities.
Ibn Mada' of Zahiri school has taken a different approach, as his stance about predestination stemmed from linguistic. He explicitly denied the ability of human beings to willfully choose what they say and how they say it, since speech—like all other things—is predetermined by God.
According to Maturidi belief, all active possibilities are created by God and humans act in accordance with their free intention to choose which action they follow. In this way, the intention precedes the created action and capacity by which actions are acquired.

Shi'a view

Shi'i Twelvers, along with other Shia sects, such as the Zaydis, reject predestination. At least one Shi'i scholar argues "belief in predestination is a denial of justice". This belief is further emphasized by the Shia concept of Bada', which states that God has not set a definite course for human history. Instead, God may alter the course of human history as God sees fit.
However, according to Encyclopedia.com, contemporary Imāmīs, aka Twelver Shi'a, "in general, subscribe to the doctrine of divine determination with a nod in the direction of free will; Ismāʿīlī views are not dissimilar. The Zaydī Shīʿī are closer to the Muʿtazilah in their views".
Some positions taken by leading Shi'i scholars include:

"human actions are created by God and can "simultaneously" be classified as free actions" and divinely "obligatory actions".
*Free unless someone had forced the person to do them, and obligatory because they "proceeded from a cause produced by God". Hisham ibn al-Hakam, a companion of Ja‘far al-Sādiq and also a scholar.
* This position was adopted by the Qom's theological school and the Shi'i hadith scholar al-Kulaynī,
God can not "be deemed either the creator of actions or the One wishing wicked human actions". Sheikh al-Mufīd, member of Baghdad's Imamite school.

The idea of "a tablet" with the future written on it is not unique to Sunni Islam as one Twelver Shi'i scholar, claiming that "the Tablet is the Book of Almighty Allah in which He has written all that will be till the Day of Resurrection".
To show that there is no contradiction between being predestined, and free will, Shiites state that matters relating to human destiny are of two kinds: definite and indefinite. To explain the definitive one, Shiites argue that God has definite power over the whole of existence, however, so whenever He wills, He can replace a given destiny with another one; and that is what is called indefinite destiny. Some of these changes of destiny, thus, are brought about by man himself, who can through his free will, his decisions, and his way of life lay the groundwork for a change in his destiny as has been pointed out in the verse:

Truly, God will not change the condition of a people as long as they do not change Their state themselves.

Both types of destinies, however, are contained within God's foreknowledge, Shiites argue, so that there could be no sort of change concerning His knowledge. So the first type of destiny does not mean a limitation of God's power; since God, in contrast to the belief of Jews who said the hand of God is tied’ asserts: Nay, His hands are spread out wide.... So God has the power to change everything he wills and God's creativity is continuous. Accordingly, as Sobhani puts it, "all groups in Islam regard "bada" as a tenet of the faith, even if not all actually use the term."
Iranian scholar Naser Makarem Shirazi asserts that "belief in predestination is a denial of justice", and that there is free will in Islam, but at the same time God has foreknowledge of everything in the future. He tackles the paradox of God knowing man will commit a certain sin, and man's free will to commit it by postulating the existence of a machine so advanced that it can predict the occurrence of an event some hours in advance. Yet one would not say the machine compelled that event to occur; likewise, God's perfect knowledge doesn't compel man to commit sins.

Ismaili

Ismaili thinkers such as Abu Hatim Ahmad ibn Hamdan al-Razi, Muhammad Ibn Ahmad al-Nasafī, Ishāq Ibn Ahmad al-Sijistānī, Al-Qadi al-Nu'man and Hamid al-Din al-Kirmani, contributes the development of the understanding about qadā’ and qadar in Ismaili doctrine. They wrote that humans were not able to fully grasp the Qur’anic truths in their exoteric and esoteric essence. Human knowledge, therefore required guidance from the authoritative imams of Ismaili faith.

Philosophical controversies

The question regarding predestination has been raised by the early Islamic rationalist Muʿtazila school of thought, if everything that has happened and will happen, including all acts of good and evil, has already been determined by God, doesn't that mean that everything a human being does during their life is only following God's decree? How can human beings be responsible for this, and even punished with eternal torment in hell for it? According to Justin Parrott of the Islamic Yaqeen Institute, "it has been an important issue throughout history", addressed by the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle over 2000 years ago. Orientalist Alfred Guillaume points out the dilemma "has exercised the minds" of theologians of all religions "which claim to present" a god that is both almighty and moral.
The 10th century Ash'ari school of theology,, reconciles punishment in hell with the doctrine of total divine power over everything, with their own doctrine of kasb. According to it, while any and all acts, including human acts of evil, are created by God, the human being who performs the act is responsible for it, because they have "acquired" the act. Humans only have the power to decide between the given possibilities God has created. Maria De Cillis explains Al-Baqillani has specify the difference between a non free act and an acquired act, that "To acquire" in this context means the person perform his act freely by virtue of physical forces generated by the joined acts. Such act was related with the concept which led to divide reward or punishment. al-Bāqillānī recognised that a person had the capacity to act in such a way as to make their actions coincide with what God wanted or rejected, thereby conferring moral connotations upon actions. Muʿtazila argued that it was "unthinkable" that God "would punish man for what He himself had commanded".
Critics have accused Muhammad of making "no effort to grapple with the difficulty his self-contradictory revelations on this subject caused to subsequent thinker." Critic of Islam Ibn Warraq complains that the "system of predestination" turns men into "automata", undermining "the notion of moral responsibility" and the justification for the harsh punishment of hellfire. According to Maria De Cillis, the political consequences of the free will against determinism debate has extended to beyond academic and ulama field; as it breached into the realm of politics as this matter has relationship with the social context;. According to Justin Parrott, the thought that everything has already decreed by the Creator has given problems for theologians and philosophers, even for the single matter of the aspect about the relationship between predestination and free will. Cedomir Nestorovic asserts that the limited acceptance of free-will might have influence on the Islamic market place. The belief in free-will might motivate an individual to change the order of things. If there is a lack of belief in free-will, it is unlikely for a company to make changes.

Appendix

Primary sources

Quran

"He knows what is in land and sea; not a leaf falls, but He known it.".
"By no means can anything befall us but what God has destined for us"
"He has ordained for you ˹believers˺ the Way which He decreed for Noah, and what We have revealed to you ˹O Prophet˺ and what We decreed for Abraham, Moses, and Jesus, ˹commanding:˺ 'Uphold the faith, and make no divisions in it.' What you call the polytheists to is unbearable for them. Allah chooses for Himself whoever He wills, and guides to Himself whoever turns ˹to Him˺."

... and in particular God's control over each humans destiny in the afterlife:

"As for those who persist in disbelief, it is the same whether you warn them or not—they will never believe. Allah has sealed their hearts and their hearing, and their sight is covered. They will suffer a tremendous punishment."
"If God had willed, He would have made you one community; but He leads astray whom He will, and guides whom He will; and will surely be questioned about the things you wrought."
"Nor would thy Lord be the One to destroy communities for a single wrong-doing, if its members were likely to mend. If thy Lord had so willed, He could have made mankind one people: but they will not cease to dispute. Except those on whom thy Lord hath bestowed His Mercy: and for this did He create them: and the Word of thy Lord shall be fulfilled: 'I will fill Hell with jinns and men all together."
"God misleads whom He will and whom He will He guides"
"The Lord has created and balanced all things and has fixed their destinies and guided them."
"Verily, We have created all things with Qadar of all things before their creation as written in the Book of Decrees."
"No calamity befalls on the earth or in yourselves but is inscribed in the Book of Decrees before We bring it into existence. Verily, that is easy for Allah."
"Do not say of anything, I am doing that tomorrow, without, If God wills"
"As for Thamûd, We showed them guidance, but they preferred blindness over guidance. So the blast of a disgracing punishment overtook them for what they used to commit."
"And say, ˹O Prophet,˺ '˹This is˺ the truth from your Lord. Whoever wills let them believe, and whoever wills let them disbelieve."
"For each one there are successive angels before and behind, protecting them by Allah’s command. Indeed, Allah would never change a people’s state ˹of favour˺ until they change their own state ˹of faith˺. And if it is Allah’s Will to torment a people, it can never be averted, nor can they find a protector other than Him."
"Whatever good befalls you is from Allah and whatever evil befalls you is from yourself. We have sent you ˹O Prophet˺ as a messenger to ˹all˺ people. And Allah is sufficient as a Witness."
Al-Muddaththir Abdul-Rahman al-Sa'di, 19th CE Saudi Arabia scholar; has used this verse as argument to refute the docrines of both Qadariyah and Jabriyya at once, as he argued the verse has proven that predestination and free will could coexist.

Hadith

Hadith of Gabriel; narrated from ’Umar that Jibreel عليه السلام said to the Prophet: What is faith ? He said: "To believe in Allah, His Angels, His Books, His Messengers, the Last Day and the divine decree, both good and bad." Jibreel said to him: You have spoken the truth. He said: We were amazed that he asked him and then confirmed his answers as being correct. The Prophet said: "That was Jībreel, who came to teach you your religion."
A hadith quotes Abd Allah ibn Umar ibn al-Khattab as narrating the hadith above along with the saying that: "If one of them were to spend gold the like of Uhud in charity, it would not be accepted by Allah from him until he believes in Al-Qadar";
A hadith Ali: Muhammad once said "There is no one from you who does not have his seat written either in the Fire or in the Garden." They said, "Messenger of Allah, then should we not rely on what is written for us and abandon action?" ''"Act." Muhammad replied. "Everything is easy if you were created for it." as Muhammad added, "As for someone who is one of the people of happiness, it is easy for him to perform the actions of happiness. As for someone who is one of the people of wretchedness, it is easy for him to perform the actions of wretchedness."'' then Muhammad recited the| al-Lail.