Humans, despite our differences in religious, political and social views believe that there is more to life than mere actions and reactions and somehow, even subconsciously, we believe that we are being pushed into some things, event or situations in order to do something about it and affect change bringing about benefit to other people. This is what we believe as something that we were destined to do or something that is we are destined to end up with.
Destiny or fate is something we have no control of. Things that shall be the ultimate end result no matter what we do. Success, failure, who are we going to end up with in marriage and most other things, do not occur except that we are destined for it.
For most of us, destiny is directed by God which Muslims and Christians believe in. Others who may not necessarily have a systematic belief in God may say in some figurative way that destiny is directed by the higher power or divine providence. Others have denied destiny altogether as they believe that they and only they have the power to bring in the results they wanted. Others are on the other extreme believe in destiny to the point that they become defeatists in their thoughts that human action has no effect to the outcome of things because they only believe in destiny and deny the human’s capacity and ability of having its own free will and ability to change things.
Belief in Destiny is one of the primary teachings of Islam and is officially known as the Belief in Destiny whether it is good or bad. Prophet Muhammad said, ‘Wondrous is the affair of a believer, as there is good for him in every matter; this is not the case for anyone but a believer. If he experiences good, he thanks Allah and it is good for him. If he experiences harm, he shows patience and it is good for him.’ Narrated by Imam Muslim.
Muslims believe that destiny is something that Allah has written for us and we should subject ourselves in all humility to accept whatever Allah has destined for us whether is beneficial or harmful to us. But this acceptance should be balanced with our constant attempts to do good in exercising our own free will and ability to perform actions that shall change the things around us. Muslims believe that humans must exercise this ability which was not given to the angels who have no free will that makes them only act upon Allah’s orders only. Muslims in this regard have the middle ground in the belief in destiny where people have either denied it entirely or have abandoned the fact of human free will.
Destiny in Islam is subject to Allah’s knowledge, writing, will, and creation. Destiny begins with Allah’s wishes and His decision on what to impose on His creations and He has it written even before He created all of the creations. Prophet Muhammad said, ‘Allah decided the decrees of creation fifty thousand years before He created the heavens and the earth.” Narrated by Imam Muslim
Nothing happens in the universe except that it is through the will of Allah and what He ultimately allows to happen. Allah said in the Quran, ‘Verily, We have created all things with Divine Preordainments of all things before their creation as written in the Book of Decrees.’ Quran 54:49.
Perhaps the greatest confusion about the issue of destiny is how human’s free will coincide with Allah’s destiny for him. Will there be conflict? If something happens, is it the will of the human or the will of Allah? Let us understand this through a series of logical questions.
Did Allah create the human action too because he created everything? Yes, it is Allah who causes humans to be able to do anything.
So does this mean that humans have no deciding power if Allah creates our actions? No. Allah said in the Quran, ‘And We shown him the two ways of good and evil?’ This means that there is no power or ability except through Allah but it is the human’s decision to sin or avoid sin, to do good or not to do good.
What about being destined for Hell or Paradise? Yes Allah destined the people for that too. But the people who deny destiny argues that destiny is injustice because it robs the person of his free will while those who deny free will thinks that it is futile to act because humans are doomed to damnation or will go to Paradise whether they do good or bad. These are all false opinions.
Quoting the verse of Allah giving us options, He tells us that man may believe and do righteous deeds by his own choice and free will, then he enters Paradise, or he may disbelieve and do evil deeds by his own choice and free will, then he enters Hell. Allah is far from any form of injustice to His creation.
Do those who deny destiny think that they could achieve anything without the help of Allah or without Allah intervening and changing and rearranging His creations to match the human’s desire or freewill? They are wrong to think that they could reach the moon or build the tallest building without Allah facilitating the physical world to match their free will.
Are those who deny free will think that Allah would be unjust by putting to waste all the good things a man has done simply because he was destined for Hell anyway? They are wrong too.
And Finally to simplify things, yes, there are mentions in Islamic texts that Allah has written whether someone is ultimately going to Hell or Paradise simply because Allah knows already what these people are going to do in their lives. Allah is never ignorant of anything even the events in our future because Allah transcends time and space. He created them both. So He knows who is going to Hell or Paradise and that is why there are people who are destined to Hell or Paradise. Not because He put them there, but because they put themselves there.
