Little things which make a difference: Destiny and Free Will

You have a small sailboat…you fix a destination and you set out upon the immense ocean…You have a number of tools to pilot your boat and to navigate, and perhaps a crew to help you towards reaching the place you’ve decided to go. Perhaps you will reach your destination…however, there are factors which you don’t have any control over; the weather conditions, the wind, the currents… perhaps you will end up where you set out for, perhaps at a completely different place than you had imagined, perhaps even at the bottom of the ocean. This small sailboat is your life. Your free will is to choose your destination and to navigate towards that goal. Everything that is beyond your control is what decides your destiny. What is important is to decide on your goal and to launch your boat into the unknown, into the vast waters of the ocean. Failing to decide your goal and set out to reach it is to accept a destiny of not accomplishing anything in your life. You always have the possibility to change your course by way of your navigation, and you could be led to do this either out of choice or necessity. Often we find that the destination we set out for originally is finally not where we end up.

I’m a strong believer in destiny; however, I cannot say that I’m a fatalist. On the other hand, I cannot say that I’m a libertarian either. For most of my life I believed in the doctrine of free will, and even if I don’t have the answers, too many events throughout the course of my life have convinced me that there is a reason and purpose for everything, and if we accept this idea, we must also accept the idea that there is an Ultimate Controlling Force and that we cannot escape our final destiny.

My conviction is this: It is when we are “in tune” with The Controlling Force, when we pay attention to the signs that we are given and act accordingly that our free will is in line with our destiny. Some readers will be very skeptical, saying “How can you be sure that you are seeing signs and it’s not just your imagination?” or perhaps “How can you say that you’re “in tune” with a power that doesn’t exist, or if it does exist what makes you think that you can tune into it?”. In fact, I cannot pretend to have any proof, this is only my belief based on my perception of my life experience. No one can say that they understand the mysteries of this life, and I don’t pretend to, in fact it is crystal clear to me how little I really know or understand. The subject of Destiny and Free Will is very complicated and is the oldest philosophical debate in the history of mankind.

When I speak of being in tune, I don’t mean pretending to be a prophet or understanding the will and designs of the One Universal Force. This Force has sent us messengers, and the first step in being in tune is to try our best to follow the guidance that we’ve been given.  Secondly, to continually and sincerely ask for guidance, as in the Fatiha, verse 6, which we as Muslims repeat at every prayer: ???????? ?????????? ?????????????? "Guide us to the Straight Way."

The Qur’an specifically states that every person will be judged for their acts in this life and that every person is free to choose between good and evil, which indicates clearly that we have free will:

There shall be no compulsion in matters of faith. (Quran 2:257)

Allah burdens not any soul beyond its capacity. It shall have the reward it earns, and it shall get the punishment it incurs. (Quran 2:287)

And that man will have nothing but what he strives for. (Quran 53:40)

There is a question that arises which would seem to be a contradiction in that we find also in the Hadiths the “Book of Destiny” in which Allah decides whether every person will be good or evil while they are still in their mother’s womb at only 40 days and nights after conception. The companions of Allah’s Messenger (may peace be upon him) asked about this:

From the Hadiths of Sahih Muslim:

 All reported: We were in a funeral in the graveyard of Gharqad that Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) came to us and we sat around him. He had a stick with him. He lowered his head and began to scratch the earth with his stick, and then said: There is not one amongst you whom a scat in Paradise or Hell has not been allotted and about whom it has not been written down whether he would be an evil person or a blessed person. A person said: Allah's Messenger, should we not then depend upon our destiny and abandon our deeds? Thereupon he said: Acts of everyone will be facilitated in, that which has been created for him so that whoever belongs to the company of the blessed will have good works made easier for him and whoever belongs to the unfortunate ones will have evil acts made easier for him. He then recited this verse (from the Qur'an):" Then, who gives to the needy and guards against evil and accepts the excellent (the truth of Islam and the path of righteousness it prescribes), We shall make easy for him the easy end and who is miserly and considers himself above need, We shall make easy for him the difficult end". (XCii. 5-10). (Book #033, Hadith #6398)

This is what having our free will in line with our destiny means. There are no simple answers to this question. To end with I’ll give one example of a moment that I felt certain that my free will was “in tune” with destiny and was able to recognize the signs (I could also give many examples of when I was “out of tune”) Extract from my article of June 4, 2016 “Islam is Salaam, Submission is Peace” :

“By the Grace of Allah I have been blessed with a son; his name is Islam. The day that my wife and I discovered the sex of the child from the echography at 4 months of pregnancy we sat down to look at names. In the thousands of names possible we decided to start with the letter “I”, almost immediately we fell upon and instantly agreed on Islam. There was no hesitation on the part of either of us…Allah knew our son Islam’s name, as for every child, before we decided it and before the child was even conceived by His Grace, and as a practicing praying Muslim, I know that we were guided.”

May Allah guide you, may you find your reason and purpose, and may you find your free will in line with your destiny.