Free Will vs Divine Decree: Finding Balance

Alhamdulillah.

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Continuing in authored by in the chapter regarding vigilance of Allah's observation subhanahu wa ta'ala Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has informed us in his book of decree and he has likewise has informed us of free will. The human being has free will. The human being has decree. What is the extent of each of those? As we've mentioned before, previous groups, previous nations, entire religions have fallen to misguidance with respect to the issue of free will and the issue of decree and destiny. There are some that are so aggressive in affirming decree and destiny, so extreme in their affirmation of destiny that free will is all but non-existent. And then there are the opposites, their counterparts which have so extremely so extremely affirmed free will to the point where there is no destiny in these people's minds. Now the Muslim who reads the Quran, who reads the Sunnah, the educated Muslim, the Muslim who learns from Allah and his messenger and the companions of the messenger of Allah, will they understand decree in all of its detail? No. Not even a scholar, not even a messenger would understand everything with respect to the decree of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And for this reason it's said by the scholarship of Islam that that decree it's one of the secrets of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and the prophet sallall.aii wasallam warned us of trying to understand and get to the bottom of every single detail of decree. And if decree has is mentioned then refrain from discussing it in great detail without knowledge and debating and affirming or negating without knowledge of decree. The human being has free will. The human being is also destined by Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala. The human being has destiny. Allah wrote all that is to be. He knew and then he wrote and then he willed and then he created. And within those parameters, the human being has been endowed with free will that he or she can exercise to its limits within those parameters. This is what Allah teaches us in the Quran. That's that's how he teaches us. He teaches us what is the extent of the decree of Allah. Has Allah forced us to do anything? No. But he decrees. And what is the extent of our endowment with free will that it is limited by our finite existent, the finite choices presented to us in our existence and that which would negate decree. So we walk a middle path. How does Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala say that? He sums it up so easily, so beautifully. And these are the kinds of truisms or the kinds of proverbs that we should teach our children. And that is and you all do not will something except that after Allah has willed it. You may not will, you may not exercise your free will unless Allah permits you to do so. Unless Allah wills for you to exercise your will. Right? That's the middle path. Does he explain to us the every detail? No. But he tells us the amount that we need to know in order to be healthy in our belief and affirmation of both sides. This is what he is teaching Abdullahb Abbas in this narration that we've been dealing with. And this is probably what's the fourth or fifth day that we've discussed this narration. And we could discuss it for another five days easily. We could probably discuss it for another five weeks if we were to follow up all of the meanings and insinuations and all of the implications of these this narration. However, each of these statements, each of these sentences is a proverb that the Muslim is to memorize and to implement in his life. Whenever he is faced at a crossroads, he remembers these proverbs. He remembers these truisms. He remembers what we say these sayings, right? He remembers these sayings. when I say for instance better safe than sorry right how many decisions have you or I made based on that statement it's a correct statement the statement is correct it's it's very wise right better safe than sorry right don't count your chickens before they you have you guys have that one over here hatch yeah don't count your chickens before they hatch Right. or you know, do you guys know any others that don't put all your eggs in one basket, right? There's another one. How many decisions have we made in our lives remembering the the wisdom imparted by these proverbs or these truisms right many decisions now these are the proverbs the truisms that the prophet teaches us and you see you don't have to argue argue the meanings of these proverbs and find evidence for them. if I say don't count your chickens before they hatch, right? I don't have to have evidence and and logically explain this to my child when I say this saying. I say it, he memorizes it, right? If he wants to explore it later, he can. This is how we teach our children. What are some Islamic proverbs? So for instance, that is one, right? There's another one, right? Right. These are proverbs that we teach our children when they come to a crossroads. They are able to refer back to these statements and make the proper decisions. Abbass Abbass his Abbass. Yeah. And how is he related to the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam? Huh? His cousin. Yes. He's his first cousin from his father's side. So paternal cousin. Correct. And what year did he pass away? 50 58 after hij right the difference the historians often differ in that but the correct opinion inshallah is that he passed away in the year 58 after hijra I abb says that he was riding behind the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam one day and he said to me young boy, I'm going to teach you some words of wisdom, some statements, some proverbs, some truisms. Then he gave that him sentences short sentences that he could easily memorize. He says in in these sentences to finish up this narration, preserve Allah's boundaries and you will find him before you. You will find him in front of you wherever you need him or call out to him. Get to know Allah. Build a relationship with him in times of ease and he will recognize you in your times of difficulty. And know that whatever has missed you was never meant to have afflicted you. And whatever afflicts you was never meant to have missed you. The concept of a close call, that's for us, right? If if I were to look at that door and see the clearance between the door and the door jamb, say, "Wow, the door misses the door jamb by just fraction of an inch." To me, if the door is beyond my understanding, that could be coincidence. But to the person who designed that door, that was intentional the whole time. It was never meant to It was never meant to bump into the door jam. We couldn't say it is so close. Just a little bit longer. It would have. No, it never could have. It could have never been designed to not close because it was designed. It was made. It was willed to be exactly that size, to fit in exactly that door and exactly that door jamb. And so to us, we we call things coincidence. We call things coincidence, close call, near miss, almost. But Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala he sees things as will to have happened or not. Subhanahu wa ta'ala. He says and know that victory comes only with patience. And know that relief only comes with difficulty. Relief only comes with its crisis. And know that with every difficulty comes ease. these things. It doesn't just mean that the more patient you are, the closer you are to victory, the more patient you are and hopeful you are, the closer you are to relief doesn't just mean that, but it also means that what is the concept of of victory without patience? It doesn't exist. That is the very definition of victory. And so the companions, they understood from these statements that the more difficult a situation would get and the longer it would linger, the greater the relief was going to be when it came. and that every day that passed, they were always a day closer to the day of relief and victory. And relief cannot be experienced without being preceded with with difficulty. Otherwise, what is relief? It has no meaning. Just a sunny day has no meaning without a rainy one. Just pleasure has no meaning without pain. These things are two sides of the same coin. Just like winter and summer, life and death. What gives our lives meaning right now? What gives our life meaning? Is it not that we're going to die? And so we have to work in that time. Doesn't that get us out of bed? Doesn't that you know, I'm getting old. I'm getting this right meaning person is drawing closer to death and so this is a motivation in their life that is what gives us meaning if we were going to be eternally living here on this earth what would the meaning to that be nothing subhanahu waala and and subhanahua.

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How's your day?