Divine Determining

Divine Determining and the power of choice are aspects of a belief pertaining to state 
and conscience which show the final limits of Islam and belief; they are not theoretical 
and do not pertain to knowledge. That is to say, a believer attributes everything to 
Almighty God, even his actions and self, till finally the power of choice confronts him, so 
he cannot evade his obligation and responsibility. It tells him: “You are responsible and 
under obligation.” Then, so that he does not become proud at his good deeds and his 
achievements, Divine Determining confronts him, saying: “Know your limits; the one 
who does them is not you.” Yes, Divine Determining and the power of choice are at the 
final degrees of belief and Islam; the former has been included among the matters of 
belief to save the soul from pride, and the latter, to make it admit to its responsibility. 
Obdurate evil-commanding souls clinging to Divine Determining in order to clear 
themselves of the responsibility of the evils they have committed, and their becoming 
proud and conceited on account of the virtues bestowed on them and their relying on the 
power of choice, are actions totally opposed to the mystery of Divine Determining and 
wisdom of the power of choice; they are not matters pertaining to knowledge which 
might give rise to such actions.

For ordinary people who have not progressed spiritually there may be occasions 
when Divine Determining is used, and these are calamities and disasters when it is the 
remedy for despair and grief. But it should not be used to justify rebellion and in matters 
of the future so that it becomes a cause of dissipation and idleness. That is to say, Divine 
Determining has not been included among the matters of belief to relieve people from 
their obligations and responsibility, but to save them from pride and conceit. While the 
power of choice has been included in order to be the source of evils, not to be the source 
of virtues, so that people become like the Pharaoh. 
Yes, as the Qur’an states, man is totally responsible for his evils, for it is he who 
wants the evils. Since evils are destructive, man may perpetrate much destruction with a 
single evil act, like burning down a house with one match, and he becomes deserving of 
an awesome punishment. However, he does not have the right to take pride in good 
deeds; his part in them is extremely small. For what wants and requires the good deeds is 
Divine mercy, and what creates them is dominical power. Both request and reply, reason 
and cause, are from God. Man only comes to have them through supplication, belief, 
consciousness, and consent. As for evils, it is man’s soul that wants them, either through 
capacity or through choice, – like in the white and beautiful light of the sun some 
substances become black and putrefy, and the blackness is related to their capacity –
however, it is Almighty God Who creates the evils through a Divine law which 
comprises numerous benefits. That is to say, the cause and the request are from the soul, 
so that it is the soul which is responsible, while it is Almighty God Who creates the evils 
and brings them into existence, and since they have other results and fruits which are 
good, they are good. 
It is for the above reason that the ‘acquisition’ (kasb) of evil, that is, the desire for 
evil, is evil, but the creation of evil is not evil. A lazy man who receives damage from 
rain, which comprises many instances of good, may not say that the rain is not mercy. 
Yes, together with a minor evil in its creation are numerous instances of good. To 
abandon that good for a minor evil becomes a greater evil. Therefore, a minor evil 
becomes like good. There is no evil or ugliness in Divine creation. They rather pertain to 
His servant’s wish and to his capacity.
Furthermore, Divine Determining is both exempt from evil and ugliness with regard 
to results and fruits, and free from tyranny and ugliness with respect to reason and cause. 
Because Divine Determining looks to the true causes and acts justly. Men construct their 
judgements on causes which they see superficially and fall into error within the pure 
justice of Divine Determining. For example, a judge finds you guilty of theft and sends 
you to prison. You are not a thief, but you have committed a murder which no one knows 
about. Thus, Divine Determining also sentenced you to imprisonment, Who complains greatly about him; the Creator 
mobilizes Himself and all His angels to assist His believing servants against the 
rebellious, affording them the greatest importance?”
T h e A n s w e r : Because disbelief, rebellion, and evil are destruction and nonexistence. However, vast destruction and innumerable instances of non-existence may 
result from a single theoretical matter and one instance of non-existence. Through the 
helmsman of a large ship abandoning his duty, the ship may sink and the labour of all 
those employed on it go for nothing; all those instances of destruction will result from a 
single instance of non-existence. Similarly, since disbelief and rebellion are nonexistence and destruction, the power of choice may provoke them through a theoretical 
matter and cause awesome consequences. For although disbelief is only one evil, it
insults the whole universe, accusing it of being worthless and futile, and denies all 
beings, which display proofs of Divine unity, and is contemptuous towards all the 
manifestations of the Divine Names. It is therefore pure wisdom that Almighty God utters 
severe complaints about the unbelievers, threatening them awesomely in the name of the 
universe and all beings and the Divine Names; it is pure justice that they should suffer 
eternal punishment. Since through unbelief and rebellion man takes the way of 
destruction, with a small act of service, he may perform a great many works. In the face 
of unbelief therefore, the believers are in need of Almighty God’s boundless grace. For 
due to one troublesome child who is trying to burn down a house, ten strong men who 
have undertaken to protect and repair it may be obliged to beseech the child’s parents, or 
even have recourse to the king. In the same way the believers are in need of many Divine 
favours in order to withstand the unmannerly people of rebellion.
I n S h o r t : If the one speaking of Divine Determining and the power of choice 
has perfect belief and is aware of the Divine presence, he attributes the universe and 
himself to Almighty God, knowing them to be under His disposal. He has the right to 
speak of them. For since he knows himself and everything to be from Almighty God, he 
assumes the responsibility, 
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SECOND TOPIC
This is a minute and scholarly investigation addressing scholars in particular.5
I f y o u s a y : “How is Divine Determining compatible with the power of choice?”
T h e A n s w e r : In seven ways...
The First: The All-Just and Wise One, to Whose wisdom and justice the universe 
testifies with the tongue of order and balance, gave to man a power of choice of unknown 
nature which would be the means of reward and punishment for him. We do not know 
many of the numerous aspects of the All-Just and Wise One’s wisdom; our not knowing 
how the power of choice is compatible with Divine Determining does not prove that it is 
not so.
The Second: Of necessity everyone perceives in himself a will and choice; he knows 
it through his conscience. To know the nature of beings is one thing; to know they exist is 
something different. There are many things which although their existence is self-evident, 
we do not know their true nature... The power of choice may be included among these. 
Everything is not restricted to what we know; our not knowing them does not prove the 
things we do not know do not exist.

The Third: The power of choice is not opposed to Divine Determining, indeed, 
Divine Determining corroborates the power of choice. Because Divine Determining is a 
sort of Divine knowledge. Divine knowledge is connected with our will and choice, in 
which case it corroborates it, it does not nullify it