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Is belief in qadar (destiny) one of the essentials of being a Muslim? That is, if a man does not believe in qadar and denies it, does he exit the religion of Islam? The only answer to such a question is ‘yes’. Belief in qadar is an essential of belief in Islam and a person who denies qadar exits the religion because the Holy Quran teaches us to believe in destiny with many verses and the Holy Quran teaches us to believe in qadar and informs us that Allah knows everything pre-eternally. Some of these verses are as follows:
“With Him are the keys of the Unseen, the treasures that none knoweth but He. He knoweth whatever there is on the earth, and in the sea. Not a leaf doth fall but with His knowledge: there is not a grain in the darkness (or depths) of the earth nor anything fresh or dry (green or withered) but is (inscribed) in a Record Clear (to those who can read)…” (al-An’am: 59)
“Say: ‘Nothing will happen to us except what Allah has decreed for us: He is our protector’.” (at-Tawba: 51)
“No misfortune can happen on earth or in your souls but is recorded in a decree before We bring it into existence: that is truly easy for Allah.”(al-Hadid: 22)
“And of all things have We taken account in a clear Book (of evidence).”(Yasin: 12)
“Allah doth know what every female (womb) doth bear, by how much the wombs fall short (of their time or number) or do exceed. Every single thing is before His sight, in (due) proportion.” (ar-Ra’d: 8)
“Knowest thou not that Allah knows all that is in heaven and on earth? Indeed it is all in a record and that is easy for Allah.”(al-Hajj: 70)
These verses and many similar verses declare that things existed in the knowledge of Allah before they were created. Its opposite cannot be considered because Allah’s knowledge surrounds everything, every time and every place. Not accepting it means attributing ignorance to Allah. However, Allah is far from all faults and defects.
If qadar did not exist for man and if Allah knew man’s actions after he did them, an end and a limit would be in question about Allah’s knowledge. And an increase, a decrease and a change would be in question about His attribute of knowledge. However, none of them can be thought about Allah.
As we will also mention in the issue of pre-eternity, Allah’s knowledge surrounds everything. Namely, all creatures; past, present and future everything that is early, late, external, internal, secret and evident, in short, everything is within Allah’s scope of observation at any moment. Nothing can be hidden from Him and His knowledge. Consequently, if we say, “there is no qadar for man”, it means Allah does not know tomorrow because if Allah knows tomorrow, there is and will be qadar for everybody because qadar is an attribute of divine knowledge.
If we want to understand the issue of qadar, we must know the following two points well: The first: Allah is timeless, that is, pre-eternal. The second: knowledge is dependent on the known. When these two issues are explained and understood well, all questions about qadar will be answered. Now, we will explain these two issues.
