Divine Determining and Human Will

1. Divine Determining and Human Will From the Twenty – Sixth Word of the Risale-i Nur

2. Importance of defining key terms It is important to define key terms carefully, to avoid equivocation with vernacular usages Most debates on Kader and ‘Freewill’ are fruitless because persons either side of the debate have distinctly different definitions in mind for key terms Thus, arguments against the cogency and justness of the Muslim position end up being ‘straw men’

3. Kader (Divine Determining) Allah has created the universe for the purposes of manifesting the beauty of His Names, so that He can behold that beauty Himself, and also so that others can behold it His Power creates the universe, but His Kader is the ‘pattern’ on which it is created Thus, Kader may be seen as the Divine Plan for how things will be, and how the universe, and all events within it, will play out

4. Kader (Divine Determining) Kader ‘Determines’ or decrees with Hikmet and Adalet to bring about the achievement of the Divine purposes noted above Kader is a sub-set of Divine Knowledge. Allah knows how all physical things will be, and how all events will unfold. (The physical states relate to the Clear Book, while the non-physical, or ‘theoretical’ things, like events, relate to the Clear Record. Both these are parts of Divine Knowledge) It is critical to note here that Allah is not limited by the constraints of time, thus He sees and knows all things all at once

5. Cuz’iIrade – Limited Will Humans have been given limited will (cuz’iirade) while Allah possesses Kulli Irade – Absolute Will Human will is limited to ‘the ability to choose’ It is limited because the choices are determined by Allah in the first place. We don’t create the choices, we merely choose one of them But this choice is freely made – thus we are responsible for it

6. Relationship between Kader and Human Will Recall that Allah’s purpose in creating the universe is to display the beauty of His Names and Attributes. Also recall that Kader is the plan for how the whole cosmic show will play out to achieve this So that humans can know the beauty of Allah’s Kulli Irade, they have been given a small sample of it, which they utilize throughout their lives

7. Relationship between Kader and Human Will At the same time, having the power of free choice enables us to be examined Examination results in ‘striving’, which is the ‘mechanism of progress’ than enables us to rise through the levels of maturity Ultimately, it enables us appreciate ever higher levels of Divine beauty

8. Relationship between Kader and Human Will The fact that we can freely choose, does not impinge on Kader, since Allah created the choices and their implications. We don’t ourselves create choices or their implications Also, Allah, being All-Knowing, All-Seeing, All-Hearing and timeless, knows and sees all the choices that we make, all at once The choices we freely make are still in keeping with Kader, since the outcomes of all choices will still lead to the achievement of the Divine purposes. All outcomes of all choices will in some way still show the beauty of His Names Thus, outcomes which seem bad to us, are actually purely good, because they have good results, as noted above

9. Good is from Allah, while evil is from us Understanding the relationship between Kader and human will simultaneously saves us from conceit and irresponsibility. How? Since Allah is Absolutely Beautiful and Perfect (Cemal and Kemal), all goodness is grounded in Him When a human chooses something ‘good’, it is rightly attributable to Allah, since the good is wanted by Him, is grounded in Him, and created by Him The human share in it is extremely insubstantial – it amounts merely to ‘kasb’ or assent

10. Good is from Allah, while evil is from us Man isn’t ‘owed’, and doesn’t ‘deserve’ reward for it, for in ‘assenting’ to good, man merely does what he is supposed to. ‘Good’ is the default position since It pertains to ‘existence’ Evil, on the other hand, is not attributable to Allah, for it is the human nefs (soul) that wants it. Allah merely actuates these choices

11. Good is from Allah, while evil is from us Allah creating the ability for humans to choose, and actuating the bad choices that humans make, is not itself evil, for it has good outcomes (mentioned earlier) Nothing Allah create is evil or ugly in reality. What superficially appears ugly veils pure beauty In short, man is responsible for his evil choices, for he is their source, but should not grow conceited due to his good choices, for their ultimate source is Allah

12. Readings First Topic of the Twenty Sixth Word…