A BRIEF

OUTLINE
OF QADAR
(PRE-DESTINATION)
 By Sister Uzma 2017

FORWARD

Bismillahi-Rahmaani-Raheem

All praise is due to Allah (swt - Subhanah Wa Taala [the exalted]) and may
the peace and blessings of Allah be upon Muhammad the last Messenger and
Prophet of Allah (saw - Sallallahu alayhi wa sallam [peace be upon him]).

To proceed, the best speech is the Book of Allah and the best guidance is the
guidance of Muhammad (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam), the worst practice is
the introduction of new practices (bidahs) in Islam and every bidah is a
misguidance.

INTRODUCTION

Qadar is commonly referred to as pre-destiny or Divine Decree. It may be

defined as the Divine pre-ordainments of all things before their creation as
written in the Book of Decrees (the Preserved Tablet). Qadar, its good and
evil consequences thereof, comprise the sixth pillar of eemaan (faith). This is
not to be confused with the five pillars of Islam, which are the testimony that
only Allah is worthy of worship and Muhammad (saw) is His Slave (most
perfect worshipper) and (last) Messenger; to pray five times a day; to give
2.5% of ones yearly savings to the poor and needy; fasting the month of
Ramadaan and the the Hajj pilgrimage to Makkah. The other pillars of
eemaan are belief in Allah; His Angels; His revealed Scriptures; His
Messengers and the Last Day the Day of Resurrection. Every Muslim must
have correct belief in all of these pillars. This does not mean that anyone
who does not believe in these yet calls themselves a Muslim is automatically
a disbeliever (kaafir). There are rules and conditions that need to be met
before the scholars or judges in a Muslim state can call anyone a disbeliever.

THE ELEMENTS OF QADAR

Qadar comprises of four elements, all of which are inter-related.

I. The Knowledge of Allah.

II. The Writing of that Knowledge.
III. The Will of Allah and His complete Power over all things.
IV. The Creation of Allah.

I. THE KNOWLEDGE OF ALLAH

This is absolute and all-encompassing. Allah knows everything, the past, the
present, the future everything. Nothing is hidden from Him. He knows the
occurrence of things before they happen. His Knowledge is infinite and
eternal.

II. THE WRITING OF THE KNOWLEDGE OF ALLAH

The writing is an expression of the Knowledge of Allah. One way of

knowledge being manifested is by writing it down.

The Writing has four types:

1. The writing that is in the Preserved Tablet (Al-lawh al Mahfooz). This

is with Allah. This known as the eternal Decree and it never changes.
It contains everything that would occur till the Day of Resurrection.
2. The writing that occurred when the spirit is blown in to the baby. This
is the life-time Decree. It is the writing of their life-span, their
provision, their deeds and whether they will go to Paradise or Hell.
3. The writing that occurs on Laylatul Qadr. This is the annual Decree.
The Decrees for the coming year are transferred from the Preserved
Tablet.
4. The carrying out of the above in their prescribed times and places.
This is the daily Decree.

Everything that is not in the preserved tablet can change. For example,
upholding the ties of kinship increases lifespan and provisions.

III. ALLAHS WILL AND POWER OVER EVERYTHING

Everything that Allah Wills occurs and everything that Allah does not Will
does not occur, not because He is unable to do it, but because He did not
Will for it to occur.

Allahs Will comprises of two levels:

 A. His Universal Will: Nothing occurs in the universe except, that it is
with Allahs universal Will. This Will is a part of His Lordship and
Dominion over everything. He controls everything and nothing occurs
without His Permission.
B. His Legislated and Prescriptive Will. This is what Allah commands
mankind with. This is the halaal (allowed), haraam (prohibited), liked,
disliked and obligatory things that Allah has prescribed for mankind.

Therefore a believer acts in accordance with both types of Will and the
disbeliever acts only in accordance with the Universal Will.

IV. THE CREATION OF ALLAH

Allah created us and our actions. What ever He has decreed to happen will
happen. What leads to that Decree has also been pre-determined. Everything
other than Allah is created. Thus everything the creation does is fore-known
by Allah, pre-written in the Preserved Tablet and in accordance with His
Will and Power.

COMMON QUESTIONS ABOUT QADAR (PREDESTINATION)

If Allah is good where did the evil come from?

Yes, Allah is good and no evil can be attributed to Him. Evil comes from the
absence of good, just as darkness occurs where there is no light.

Why did Allah allow evil to exist?

One possible reason for Allah creating the universe is so that His Names and
Attributes could be manifest. This is evident when we realise that we
creation are a manifestation of Allahs ability to create. One possible wisdom
in creating things that are apparently evil or bad, stems from the good that
would come from it. Nothing Allah created is absolutely evil, there is always
some good in it or that can come from it. For example, for Allahs
characteristic of being the All-Forgiving to be manifest, someone had to
commit a sin and then Allah could forgive them. Forgiveness cannot come
about with out something to forgive which must be sinful and evil in some
way. Likewise, Allahs characteristic of being the One who accepts
repentance, has to come from someone repenting from a sin. No-one repents
from doing something good.
Another thing to consider is the fact that there are many other great things in
life that come from difficult situations or processes. For example, Hajj is
difficult for most people but its rewards are incredible; the process of
becoming a Doctor is tiresome but its rewards are many; the process of
having a baby can be very unpleasant but the outcome is amazing.

Some unpleasant things are required to prevent an even worse situation from
being developed. For example, a person having their leg amputated to save
the rest of the body from becoming diseased.

What is the point of Dua (supplication) to Allah?

Dua is a means to something. Just like drinking water is a means to

quenching a persons thirst. Dua is rewarding and an act of worship in and of
itself, and it also has a role to play in the decree. If a person wants to pass an
exam for example, and the only way he can do it is by doing dua to Allah
and by studying, then if that person is decreed to pass they will do both these
and pass the exam. Both the result and the means to the result are part of the
Decree of Allah.

What is the role of salat al istikhaarah (a prayer and dua to Allah

asking Him to decree good in relation to a particular situation) in
relation to the Decree of Allah?

This is another example of an effort undertaken to achieve a desired result.

By doing salat al istikhaarah a person has taken some of the means necessary
to achieving goodness.

If Allah has pre-determined everything why bother doing anything? If

it is decreed it will come anyway.

Allah has not only created us but He created our actions, the means to those
actions and the result of those actions. For example, if it is decreed for a
person to get ill, in order to cure themselves they make dua to Allah and take
medicine and then they are cured. The illness, the dua, the medicine and
being cured were all decreed. If they did not take any medicine this would
also be part of the Decree.
 If everything is pre-written does this mean that man has no free will?

No. The writing in and of itself has no impact on the actions of His creation.
It is just a confirmation of His Knowledge. For example, suppose someone
who knows me well predicts a day in advance what I will do and writes it
down as proof of that knowledge. The next day I do exactly what that person
wrote. That writing did not influence what I chose to do. It was their
knowledge of me that proved their prediction to be correct. As mentioned
earlier Allahs Knowledge is absolute, and He knows everything. So His
prediction of our deeds is no doubt going to be absolutely correct.

If Allah has pre-determined everything why does He punish us?

Mans free will is obvious. We can choose what we do in our lives. If I wish,
I will do certain things and if I wish, I will not do certain things. The choice
is mine. We are not forced to make those decisions. If that were the case the
sending of Messengers with Divinely revealed Books, reward and
punishment would be meaningless.

If humans had no free will, they would be like the Angels. Angels only do
good things. Humans are not like the Angels, humans sin. It is in the
Greatness of Allah as a Creator that He has created a creation with a choice
the choice to sin or not to sin, to obey Him or not to obey Him. However,
because they are His Creation, He is the One who has complete power over
them. They will not do anything that has not been pre-ordained by Him, and
every one of these acts has a greater wisdom behind it His Wisdom behind
it. He is the One who created those acts and they are the ones who carried
them out. It is from His Mercy that He Forgives and grants Paradise and it is
from His Justice that He Punishes those who disobey Him. Good deeds are
rewarded from 10-700 times and bad deeds are punished as they are.
Remember on the Day of Resurrection all those who were wronged will get
justice and be recompensed for their suffering from those who wronged
them. If everyone who wronged others and committed sin was let off where
is the justice?

If it is pre-determined whether I go to Paradise or Hell, why should I

do good deeds?
Everyone hates to be oppressed. Committing sins is harmful for the doer at
least by way of being bought to justice, and harmful for the one whom is
victim to that sin. The vast majority of people no matter what religion they
are still recognise most major sins and their laws have some way of
punishing the perpetrators. It goes against the human nature to allow such
sins to be ignored.

If there was a shop fifty miles away, giving away the best cars or gold and
silver, but the journey could be very difficult, we would make the effort to
get there, even though we may get lost and end up somewhere else. So how
about if the shop was Paradise and we could have a chance of getting access
to all that is in it? Surely that goal is worth making an effort for. We do not
know if we will be granted Paradise, but if we do not make any effort to get
there then we lose out on the chance to experience the delights it has within
it. And those delights are much more than the best cars and gold and silver.

No one knows what has been decreed for them until they have done it. When
a person analyses the commands and prohibitions of Allah, they will realise
sooner or later that they have a great wisdom behind them, and that the
commands are beneficial for the doer and the community and staying away
from the prohibitions are also beneficial for the abstainer and the
community. So we should make an effort to do good deeds because they will
benefit us in this life and in the next.

CONCLUSION

Many people have gone astray because they tried to overly think this
concept of Qadar. Muslims need to learn their religion/way of life from the
authentic sources the Quraan, the authentic Sunnah (way) of Muhammad
(saw), and then the understanding of the companions of Muhammad (saw),
since it was them to whom Muhammad (saw) taught the religion to. Perhaps
one of the reasons why the belief in Qadar, its good and evil consequences
thereof, is the sixth pillar of eemaan is that by believing the other five
pillars, one can automatically appreciate the belief in Qadar.

I seek Allahs forgiveness for any shortcomings in this booklet. I ask Allah
to forgive us all and ask Him to protect us from all types of doubt, bidah,
kufr (disbelief) and shirk (polytheism) and guide us to know, understand and
act upon all aspects of Islam. Ya muqallibal qulub thabbit qalbi ala deenik
(O Turner of the hearts [Allah], make firm my heart upon your Deen
[religion/way of life prescribed for us]). Ameen. Alhamdulillahi Rabil
Alameen (All praise and thanks are due to Allah, Lord of the worlds).