Predestination __socratesPageHistoryEdit Visual Text PREDESTINATION. Arabic qadar قدر, the word generally used in the Hadis; taqdir تقديرthe word usually employed in theological works. Expressions which mean "measuring out," or "preordering" Taqdir, or the absolute decree of good and evil, is the sixth article of the Muslim creed, and the orthodox believe that whatever has, or shall come to pass in this world, whether it be good or bad, proceeds entirely from the Divine Will, and has been irrevocably fixed and recorded on a preserved table by the pen of fate. The doctrine, which forms a very important feature in the Muslim system, is thus taught in the Qur'an :— Surah liv. 49: "All things have been created after fixed decree" (qadar). Surah iii. 139: "No one can die except by God's permission according to the book that fixeth the term of life." Sürah lxxxvii. 2: "The Lord hath created and balanced all things and hath fixed their destinies and guided them." Surah viii. 17: "God slow them, and those shafts were God's, not thine." Surah ix. 51: "By no means can aught befall us but what God has destined for us." Surah xiii. 30: "All sovereignty is in the hands of God." Surah xiv. 4:" God misleadeth whom He will, and whom He will He guideth." Surah xviii. 101: "The infidels whose eyes were veiled from my warning and had no power to hear." The teaching of Muhammad, as given in the Traditions handed down by al-Bukhari and Muslim, is as follows :— "God created Adam, and touched his back with his right hand, and brought forth from it a family; and God said to Adam, 'I have created this family for Paradise, and their actions will be like unto those of the people of Paradise.' Then God touched the back of Adam, and brought. forth another family, an said,' I have created this for hell, and their actions will be like unto those of the people of hell.' Then a man said to the Prophet, 'Of what use will deeds of any kind be?' He said, 'When God createth His servant for Paradise, his actions will be deserving of it until he die, when he will enter therein; and when God createth one for the fire. His actions will be like those of the people of hell till he die, when he will enter therein." "'There is not one, amongst you whose place is not written by God, whether in the fire or in Paradise.' The Companions said, 'O Prophet! since God hath appointed our places, may we confide in this and abandon our religious and moral duties?' He said, 'No; because the righteous will do good works and the wicked will do bad works.' After which the Prophet read this verse from the Qur'an: 'To him who, giveth alms, and feareth God, and yieldeth assent to the excellent creed, to him will we make easy the path to happiness. But to him who is worldly and is indifferent, and who does not believe in the excellent creed, to him will we make easy the path of misery.'" "The first thing which God created was a pen, and He said to it 'Write' ; it said,' What shall I write?' And God said, 'Write down the quantity of every individual thing to be created,' and it wrote all that was and that will be, to eternity." "God hath preordained five things on his servants; the duration of life, their actions, their dwelling-places, their travels, and their portions." "When God. hath ordered a creature to die in any particular place, he causeth his wants to direct him to that." "There is not one born but is created to Islam, but it is their fathers and mothers who make them Jews and Christians and Majusi." "It was said, 'O Prophet of God! inform me respecting charms, and the medicines which I swallow, and the shields which I make use of for protection, whether they prevent any of the decrees of God?' Muhammad said, 'These also are by the decree of God." "Verily God created Adam from a handful of earth, taken from all parts, and the children of Adam became different, like the earth; some of them red, some white, and some black, some between red, white and black, some gentle, and some severe, some impure and some pure." "The Prophet of God was asked about the children of polytheists who might die in their infancy, whether they would go to heaven or hell. He said, 'God knoweth best what their actions would have been had they lived; it depends on this.'" "The Prophet of God came out of his house when the Companions were debating about fate, and. he was angry, and became red in the face, to such a degree that you could say the seeds of a pomegranate had been bruised on it. And he said, 'Hath God ordered you to debate of fate? Was I sent to you for this? Your forefathers were destroyed for, debating about fate and destiny; I adjure you not to argue on those points." (See Ahadizu 'l-Bukhari and Muslim, in loco) [PRESERVED TABLET.] Based on <a href="https://www.juancole.com/library/books/encyclopedias/dictionary-of-islam-hughes ">Hughes, Dictionary of Islam</a> CancelTweetShareRedditEmail