Islamic question

[alf2]

A friend came to me with some questions in Islam.
I answered her first two easily, but the last one threw me for a loop. I told her I would come to some more knowledgeable Muslims and get advice.


The Surah in question is:
"Those whom Allah (in his plan) wills to guide - He opens their breast to Islam; those whom He wills to leave straying - He makes their breast close and constricted, as if they had to climb up to the skies; thus does Allah (heap) the penalty on those who refuse to believe." - 6:138

This confuses her because:

* Allah (swt) WILLS us to Islam.
* Meaning he does NOT will some people to Islam.
* He then penalizes (sends them to hell) those who he doesnt will to Islam.


Can someone please explain to me what I/we are getting wrong?

 

[Aapa]

Assalaam walaikum,

It is not so difficult to understand. We are all given multiple opportunties to own understanding that there is no God but Allah and Muhammad is His Messenger. This provides the framework for us to work under. We are given numerous occasions wherein we can act with pure intention of our hearts to please Allah and serve Him. We are given the Quran and the Prophet.

If we choose not to see nor hear nor understand..Allah will constrict that which He wills to do.

Judgement and punishment belong to Him.

 

[rightpath_357]

The replys above are pretty good. JazakAllah Khayran for posting the thread sis- because latley I was wondering the same thing

AND JazakAllah Kayran to the people who replied of course

Salam

 

[BrotherInIslam7]

:salam2: sister alf,

Nice question MashaAllah..

I think part of the confusion is arising because you have read the ayah in isolation. If you read the ayaat that precede it, the matter will become very clear.

Also sister, the reference to the verse you mentioned is 6:125.

The preceding ayah mentions :-

And when a sign comes to them, they say, "Never will we believe until we are given like that which was given to the messengers of Allah ." Allah is most knowing of where He places His message. There will afflict those who committed crimes debasement before Allah and severe punishment for what they used to conspire.

So you can understand that the disbelievers are arrogant even when Allah azz zawajal sends signs to them through His messengers. So they reject the sign and choose not to believe.

I hope this clears it InshaAllah..

Wasalaamalaykum waa rahmatullahi

 

[alf2]

Okay I dont think anyone understood my question.

My question was, the meaning of WILLS in this context.

For example, can some people not be Muslim because of allahs WILL?
That is what im wondering.

People always say, "Oh, Allah has WILLED me to Islam" do they mean guided??

 

[Aapa]

Assalaam walaikum,

When we use a word like will we need to have an understanding of the denotation. We must be sure we are using the exact definition.

How do you define will in this sense.

 

[mufakkir]

A friend came to me with some questions in Islam.
I answered her first two easily, but the last one threw me for a loop. I told her I would come to some more knowledgeable Muslims and get advice.


The Surah in question is:
"Those whom Allah (in his plan) wills to guide - He opens their breast to Islam; those whom He wills to leave straying - He makes their breast close and constricted, as if they had to climb up to the skies; thus does Allah (heap) the penalty on those who refuse to believe." - 6:138

This confuses her because:

* Allah (swt) WILLS us to Islam.
* Meaning he does NOT will some people to Islam.
* He then penalizes (sends them to hell) those who he doesnt will to Islam.



Can someone please explain to me what I/we are getting wrong?

Salaam 'Alaikum,

JazakAllahu khair for posting your query. It appears the problem you are facing is due to considering the phrase 'Allah does what He wills' to be the same as 'I do what i will'.

The way you formulated the argument seems to lead it to an inevitable logical absuridty concluding, as it were, that Allah was unjust and rather sadistic - wal 'Iyadhibillah. The argument of course negelects to define what is meant by the WILL of Allah.
We know from the many verses of the Quran and Ahadith that Allah indeed does 'whatever He Wills' and that is generaly refered to as the intent and judgment of Allah. However, the Will of Allah is of course governed by by His infinite knowledge and wisdom. Thus, the decision He takes is never arbitary rather the outcome of complete and perfect reasoning.

When Allah guides a person to Islam, He is of course, inacting His Will. Consequently, we say, 'Alllah has willed it'. However we must never equate this Willing of Allah to the manner in which we human beings use the term. We often also say, 'I do whatever i want' or 'I do what i will'. The manner and context we use this phrase often carries the implication that the 'doing' has no justification. For example, we get into an argument and that person says 'well, i do what i will'. Immediately we assume that the person has no justification for his actions, rather does it out of malice or other amoral reasons.

This, of course, is not the case when it comes to the Will of Allah. Thus your argument may be phrased as follows:

* Allah wills us to Islam becasue He knows that we would accept His signs and follow His commands as we are the grateful.
* Meaning He does NOT will some people to Islam as He knows they would never accept His authority, but rather deny His bounties.
*He then penalizes (sends them to hell) those He knows will reject and rewards (sends them to Jannah) those He knows will accept.

I hope this helps makes things clear. WaAllahu 'Alam.

Was Salaam

 

[alf2]

Assalaam walaikum,

When we use a word like will we need to have an understanding of the denotation. We must be sure we are using the exact definition.

How do you define will in this sense.

Are you asking me?

If so, I'd say it means that Allah (swt) made it happen or not happen.
I always thought people had FREE WILL in Islam, as in, we chose our own path. But this makes me question that idea.

 

[Asja]

:salam2:

Allah knows the best dear sister, but from my understanding of this ayah is that Allah guides those who ask of Him gudaince, because understanding of Allah Words can not be taken out of contest but for understanding of Allah words, it need to be reed all Quran,with explination of ayahs,tasfeer, and haadith of our Prophet sallahu alayha wa salam.

It is meaning that Allah guides the One who ask of Him help and gudaince, but on the end it still depends from Allah, will He guide that persone or not. On the end Allah always answer the prayers from the one who make it, but they sometimes get late, which again means that Allah guides to Islaam everyone who ask gudiance from Him."And your Lord says: Call upon Me, I will answer you; surely those who are too proud for My service shall soon enter hell abased." Surah Al Momin, ayah 60

"And when My servants ask you concerning Me, then surely I am very near; I answer the prayer of the suppliant when he calls on Me, so they should answer My call and believe in Me that they may walk in the right way."[2.Surah Al-Baqarah : Ayah 186]



"And call on Him fearing and hoping; surely the mercy of Allah is nigh to those who do good (to others)." (Surah Al-A'raf : Ayah 56)

And on the end Allah subhan we teala knows the best.

May Allah help you dear sister to find the most trutfull answers.:tti_sister:

 

[Aapa]

Assalaam walaikum,

I think your question has been answered.

Islam gives us a limited free will. We, as Muslims, believe that the Will of Allah manifests. The Purpose of Creation is the Will of Allah. Whatever, whenever, and whereever He Wills...it is. Each quality desires to please Allah. Each dew drop wants to be the best to excell as a dew drop.
Man choose to be the viceregent of Allah on Earth. Thus man has two options at any given junction. To believe and live in accordance with the Divine Plan or to reject.
There comes a point where Allah subhana tells us He will deafen and darken and constrict the passage to the Correct Path if a person remains in a state of shirk.

There is nothing negative in this. We are given ample opportunities to ask for forgiveness and truly repent.

One of the beauties of Islam is the honesty of the faith. There is no hocus pocus. It is written for everyone and it is simple.

 

[arzafar]

ok ill try to keep as simple as possible. you may want to skip everything and go directly to the point (in bold)

We all have free will but that is subject to Allah's will.
for example i just typed the above sentence. that happened because i chose to write. However, looking closely, you will see that i actually wrote because i had the ability to think, to type etc. this ability was given to me by Allah's will. i cannot get this ability unless Allah willed it so.

basically we have freedom of choice but we dont actually have 'free will' in the actual sense. We cannot choose not to die, not to have disease, not suffer an accident, not to miss a flight, not to wake up late. We may choose to live healthy, drive slow, put an alarm clock etc. Moreover and we are able to make these choices because Allah has given us the ability to do so - i.e. He has willed that we are able to choose those things. Poor people cannot choose a healthy living; they didnt choose to be poor, it was Allah's will.

All our abilities are given to us by Allah. this includes the ability to distinguish truth from falsehood or freedom of choice. Now with regard to the specific verse you talked about, if you read the preceding verse as brotherinislam pointed out, you should understand the concept. If someone who has freedom of choice, chooses to reject Allah's message, Allah misguides them i.e He makes bad look like good to them. No amount of explaining can turn them to Islam because Allah is the source of guidance and once He rejects those people who rejected His message, then it's over.

The only real way to be guided is through Allah (swt). His will encompasses everything since our own choices and actions are governed by our ability and circumstances which directly occur because Allah willed them so. Allah is the only true God, the Master and Creator of everything that has occurred and will ever occur, including someone accepting Islam or rejecting it since He has given them the ability to do so.

So we should always thank Allah for everything and only ask him for guidance (or anything for that matter). In fact that's what we do every time we do salah and recite al fatiha.

i hope this was useful. But you should read more about al qadr to get the actual references from Quran and hadith. Islamic faith is incomplete without belief in al qadr. also read and understand Allah's attributes

http://islamqa.com/en/ref/49004/

 

[Dr.Khan]

If Allah does not guide a person, he is letting them be misguided. So in actuality, he isn't really forcing misguidance on anyone, people themselves have chosen it as their fate.

 

[kashif_nazeer]

If Allah does not guide a person, he is letting them be misguided. So in actuality, he isn't really forcing misguidance on anyone, people themselves have chosen it as their fate.

I second that brother,as Quran says:
And [mention, O Muhammad], when Moses said to his people, "O my people, why do you harm me while you certainly know that I am the messenger of Allah to you?" And when they deviated, Allah caused their hearts to deviate. And Allah does not guide the defiantly disobedient people.(Surah al saff:05)
وَٱللَّهُ لَا يَہۡدِى ٱلۡقَوۡمَ ٱلۡفَـٰسِقِينَ
Also

Surah 18:29

Say: (It is) the truth from the Lord of you (all). Then whosoever will, let him believe, and whosoever will, let him disbelieve. Lo! We have prepared for disbelievers Fire. Its tent encloseth them. If they ask for showers, they will be showered with water like to molten lead which burneth the faces. Calamitous the drink and ill the resting-place!

plus

Surah 2:26

Lo! Allah disdaineth not to coin the similitude even of a gnat. Those who believe know that it is the truth from their Lord; but those who disbelieve say: What doth Allah wish (to teach) by such a similitude ? He misleadeth many thereby, and He guideth many thereby; and He misleadeth thereby only miscreants;

Surah 14:27

Allah confirmeth those who believe by a firm saying in the life of the world and in the Hereafter, and Allah sendeth wrong-doers astray. And Allah doeth what He will.



salam alaikum

 

[AZAM_SIDDIQUI]

Assalaam walaikum,

It is not so difficult to understand. We are all given multiple opportunties to own understanding that there is no God but Allah and Muhammad is His Messenger. This provides the framework for us to work under. We are given numerous occasions wherein we can act with pure intention of our hearts to please Allah and serve Him. We are given the Quran and the Prophet.

If we choose not to see nor hear nor understand..Allah will constrict that which He wills to do.

Judgement and punishment belong to Him.

PLEase ReAd FoR CoMpLetE aNsWerS
http://www.scribd.com/doc/2025569/Fate-and-Destiny