Are our actions our own??

[shaakir]

:salam2:

I ask forgiveness is this question has been raised already. I searched thru all 13 of the pages in the category and could not find a simialr thread.

I have often wondered about this and have ,while fishing with elders in my community , posed this question to them, and in the end, the ended up arguing about it as well, so I hope this will not cause a big problem on the forum

My question is one of accountability.
I was taught Allah is all knowing, and that you deeds / path / lot in life is predefined. If this is the case, then is the decisions we make really ours to make.

Example, If I decide to rob a person, and kill that person, will I be held accountable

At the point where I'm about to pull the trigger, in that split second decision, who is making the decision. Me or Allah. If I say it's my decision, and I decide not to pull the trigger, then basically I decide if that person lives or dies. Which I know cannot be true as Allah will decide if he dies even if I pull the trigger. However, if I turn around and leave and become a good muslim, was this mine or Allah's decision. If I had pulled the trigger and gone to jail and become a worst person. Who was then in charge of my direction in life, me or Allah. If Allah has decreed that I should a life as a good muslim, then surely I will not pull that trigger, but then was the decision mine in the first place and the result of my action was predefined at my birth.

In the end, The day to Resurection, Allah will ask me about this decision to rob the person or not. How can I answer my creator if the decision was not mine to make.

I hope I have not offended anyone with this question, and I hope this question does not make my faith in Allah appear less.

 

[marildu]

Assalmu Alaikum,

This is how I've always seen it. Allah is all knowing and all seeing. We have choices to make on this earth and do so in our own will. However, Allah knows what we were going to do from the start, but that doesn't make it Allah's decision. Allah just had knowledge of our choices and intentions.

Hope that helps

Wasalamu Alaikum

 

[abdullah123]

Salam alaikum,

My opinion. There are actions that are purely from us and there are actions that is from God. Everything is not just a simple black and white. We decide our own action some good, some bad. And we will be rewarded based on our actions. But do not rule out that fact that Allah might inspire us to do good. How to know which are good and which are bad actions? We refer to Allah's Word, the Criterion, AlQuran. InsyaAllah we all need to follow the Quran closely and pray to him that we are among the righteouss and rightly guided. Some things might seem good for us, but it might not be so in the sight of God (Quran)

Wallahua'lam

Anything bad, mistakes, and error comes from me and anything good is from Allah swt.

 

[Mabsoot]

Assalamu Alaykum, belief in Qadr, predestination is knowledge of unseen. Something we can not comprehend. Suffice to say we believe in what the Quran and the Hadith have to say in this regard.

Allah knows what actions we are to take and our end result, for he almighty, is the all knowing. Our actions are our own. You have choice what website to go to, what side of the road to drive on, whether you pray or fast, who you talk kindly to etc. Allah knows this, our actions and our thoughts.


And with Him are the keys of the Ghaib (all that is hidden), none knows them but He. And He knows whatever there is in (or on) the earth and in the sea; not a leaf falls, but he knows it. There is not a grain in the darkness of the earth nor anything fresh or dry, but is written in a Clear Record. [Qur'an 6/59]

Verily, We have created all things with Qadar (Divine Preordainments of all things before their creation, as written in the Book of Decrees Al-Lauh Al-Mahfûz). [Qur'an 54/49]

Hadith - Tirmidhi and Ibn Majah, Narrated 'Aisha​

I heard Allah's Messenger [FONT=Helvetica, Arial] [/FONT] saying: He who discusses about the Divine Decree (al-Qadr) will be answerable for it on the Day of Resurrection and he who observes silence about it, will not be answerable for it.
​

Wasalam.
​

 

[shaakir]

:salam2:

Hadith - Tirmidhi and Ibn Majah, Narrated 'Aisha
I heard Allah's Messenger saying: He who discusses about the Divine Decree (al-Qadr) will be answerable for it on the Day of Resurrection and he who observes silence about it, will not be answerable for it.

Mabsoot, does this hadith imply that by asking this question I have made myself guitly of a sin? :astag:

It's just that my overactive mind has always been perplexed by the two conflicting views that you will answer for you deeds and your deeds have been written before your creation.

If I am indeed going against the Prophets (SAW) teachings , then consider this thread closed.
I then accept that deeds have been decreed and my intentions will be judged.

Shukran for your help.

 

[Ahmed ibn Ibrahim]

The answer is: Both. Both you and Allah make such decisions. I can understand the mind-boggling confusion regarding this, but trust me - Allah is so amazing that this is possible.

I can try to explain it, but I cannot be sure of my words accuracies. I am only a simple human being, inspired by Allah. But I will try.

So, way back at the very beginning, when Allah was concidering creating the universe and all of the factors involved (angels, jinn, humans) he made certain decisions. He decided Angels would serve Him and not be able to have any choice whatsoever. He decided Jinn would have choice. He decided that humans would have choice and free thought.

Now, part of the decisions He made were regarding how/why/when things would unfold. He decided that ultimately He would prevail, and some humans and some jinn would succeed too. Once the decisions were made, He was aware of how things would unfold. He knew who would make the good choices, and who would make very poor choices. Some people would make perfect choices, some would make excellent choices, some would make good choices, some would make okay choices, others would make poor choices, others still would make bad choices, and a very few would make extremely evil choices. He was also aware of how certain people would swing from one set of choices to an other - from bad choices to good choices, for example.

After He made those decisions, and many others, He created the universe. The rest is history, so I will skip forward to today; here and now.

When you are in that situation with the gun in your hand, and a person's life or death at your choosing, you DO infact have every oppourtunity to choose. And depending on your choice, you will be responsible and accountable for it. However, way back at the beginning God chose for you to exist. He already knew who you'd be, and what decisions you would face and what the outcome would be. He made the ultimate choice. We make the immediate choice. And when Time exists, where moments flow into other moments, it is easy for us to simply blink and choose as if it were no big deal. We are autonomous to a certain degree, He is autonomous absolutely. The trick is, Allah doesn't tell us what we're going to do so it seems like we have absolute control - but as you raised, there is some doubt as to whether that's true. And your intuition is indeed quite accurate.

Ponder that for a while. =)

Peace is the only path; May it be with us all,

Brother Ahmed

 

[Ahmed ibn Ibrahim]

Mabsoot, does this hadith imply that by asking this question I have made myself guitly of a sin? :astag:

Well brother, that would depend on your intentions. Before I even wrote the paragraphs above, I did not read the rest of the thread. I only read your first comments.

What were my intentions? Good ones. Perhaps perfect ones. ;-) I have no problem with being accountable to Allah for anything in my life; especially the decisions/actions since becoming a Muslim.

Let me take this oppourtunity to reemphasize the fact that you DO have choice, that you DO have free thought, that you ARE responsible for your choices in this world as well as the next (hereafter), and that you WILL be accountable for all of them. =)

...But do not rule out that fact that Allah might inspire us to do good...

Anything bad, mistakes, and error comes from me and anything good is from Allah swt.

True, true, and true. =) Allah inspires the best in us, Alhamdulilah!

I wish you the best; Peace!

 

[Ahmed ibn Ibrahim]

... therefore, when you are a Muslim, there are only two possible means to making "mistakes" when Allah is our sole God and focus of worship:

1.)Flawed Thinking

2.)Flawed Choices

... therefore, first and foremost in your life must be Allah. Secondly you must pursue wisdom and knowledge at every oppourtunity, and strive always to do better. Thirdly, you must accept responsibility for all of your choices, and fully realize how you will be accountable for them all in there Hereafter to Allah.

I hope this helps you, my dear brothers and sisters.

 

[Mabsoot]

:salam2:

Hadith - Tirmidhi and Ibn Majah, Narrated 'Aisha
I heard Allah's Messenger saying: He who discusses about the Divine Decree (al-Qadr) will be answerable for it on the Day of Resurrection and he who observes silence about it, will not be answerable for it.

Mabsoot, does this hadith imply that by asking this question I have made myself guitly of a sin? :astag:

It's just that my overactive mind has always been perplexed by the two conflicting views that you will answer for you deeds and your deeds have been written before your creation.

If I am indeed going against the Prophets (SAW) teachings , then consider this thread closed.
I then accept that deeds have been decreed and my intentions will be judged.

Shukran for your help.

Wa alaykum salam, astaghfirullah no, and it was not my intention to state anything against you or anyone. You asked a valid question.

There are some people who contemplate this issue too much, and go beyond bounds. . they start creating their own theories and not stick to Quran and Sunnah so, that is what is wrong.

wasalam

 

[Kayote]

Assalmu Alaikum,

This is how I've always seen it. Allah is all knowing and all seeing. We have choices to make on this earth and do so in our own will. However, Allah knows what we were going to do from the start, but that doesn't make it Allah's decision. Allah just had knowledge of our choices and intentions.

Hope that helps

Wasalamu Alaikum

I totally agree with you. Thats the way I see it.

While Allah knows all our actions of the future, those actions are our own choice. Be they guidance from Allah or us being unfortunately following Shaitan's advise.

We all question things we find, thats human nature. But I think the point is that we should give it a good thought before starting to ask these questions.

Allah knows best.