Predestination in Islam
Concept of Divine Fate in Islamic teachings
Qadar (Arabic: قدر, transliterated qadar, meaning literally "power", but translated variously as: "divine fore-ordainment", "predestination," "divine decree", "decree" of Allah", "preordainment") is the concept of divine destiny in Islam. As God is all-knowing and all-powerful, everything that has happened and will happen in the universe is already known. At the same time, human beings are responsible for their actions, and will be rewarded or punished accordingly on Judgement Day.
Predestination/Divine Destiny is one of Sunni Islam's six articles of faith, (along with belief in the Oneness of Allah, the Revealed Books, the Prophets of Islam, the Day of Resurrection and Angels). In Sunni discourse, those who assert free-will are called Qadariyya, while those who reject free-will are called Jabriyya.
Some early Islamic schools (Qadariyah and Muʿtazila) did not accept the doctrine of predestination; Muʿtazila argued that it was "unthinkable" that God "would punish man for what He himself had commanded". Predestination is not included in the Five Articles of Faith of Shi'i Islam. At least a few sources describe Shi'i Muslims as denying predestination, and at least one Shi'i scholar (Naser Makarem Shirazi) argues "belief in predestination is a denial of justice".
Definition
In Islam, "predestination" is the usual English language rendering of a belief that Muslims call al-qaḍāʾ wa l-qadar ([ælqɑˈdˤɑːʔ wælˈqɑdɑr] القضاء والقدر). As per the Sunni understanding, the phrase means "the divine decree and the predestination"; al-qadr more closely means "(divine) power", deriving from the root ق د ر (q-d-r), which denotes concepts related to measuring out, aiming, calculating, preparing, being able, and having power.
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