Muslim Woman

Are events physical as well as social or predictable? Is everything that happens in this world pre-determined? Did God, at the dawn of Creation, decide what was going to happen in the human social world? Has He a definitely irrevocable plan for each and every individual? Is our destiny pre decided? Can we change our destiny? Are we inescapably bound to our fate? Can we know what lies in store for us? How does prior knowledge of our destiny affect us? Questions such as these have nagged Man ever since he began conscious logical thinking. It is my intention in this paper to try to tackle these questions in the light of the Quran.

The overwhelming majority of religious minded people in general, and that of Muslims in particular, holds the following view. At the moment of Creation, Allah Almighty laid down the rules, which were to govern the operation of the Universe. He also decided the chronology, the timing and the manner of each and every event that was to take place till eternity (the end of the Universe). He also decided the actions and behavior of each and every individual product of His creation non-living matter, the living beings and of course Men. As the popular statement in Urdu says : ‘Not even a leaf stirs without His permission.' Many hold the belief that God alone has the authority to allocate Rizq (sustenance): that is why we see so much disparity in the distribution of wealth. Some believe that one's pre destiny can be changed through extensive prayers, good deeds and exalted intermediaries like saints. It is all a matter of pleasing God either by individual action / pleas or influencing His decisions through someone.

Many also believe that only the major events in one's life are pre determined (such as marriage and education) but not the minor steps leading to a particular major event. That, they say, is the demarcating line between Man's freedom of choice and his pre decided destiny. It is believed that each and every individual is subtly taken through life being driven Willy Nilly to one's destiny by the invisible hand of Fate. This view raises a number of intriguing questions.