God’s Will & Man’s Will

Mankind has been given the dignity over all other creation. God has exclusively bestowed on them three bounties: a relatively limited free will; the intelligence and capacity of expression and the revealed-guidance.

• Free will is a limited one, as opposed to the unlimited and ultimate will of God, Who has a great and vast plan for all His creatures in the universe.
• Intelligence and capacity of expression, both are to enable human beings to develop their capability of exploiting land and sea (even the skies!) and governing all domains of their life, generation after generation.
• Revealed-Guidance contains genial ordinances of God to lead people to the right way in governing themselves, individually and collectively, so that God will question every one according to His careful account, which will be an evidence established on the Day of Judgment.

One has no choice in his or her own existence, or in his or her physical quality or color, or in his or her bodily functioning, because all that is the area of God’s full Will. But during the period of growth, little by little the person starts to use his or her faculty of free will. God says: “It is God who created you all (in a state) of weakness, and then, after weakness, ordained strength, and then, after (a period of) strength, ordained (old-age) weakness and grey hair; He creates what He wills; and He alone is all-Knowing, infinite in His power” (30:54).

And starting with maturity one can decide how to exercise his or her duty in the society where one lives, whether it will be according to God’s guidance or others. Here is the importance of the implementation of God’s ordinances (the Shari’ah) in the life of a person.

God is Omniscient, so He knows the ineluctability of what is to happen in the future, included the choice of everyone who is put under test during this life. But He is also Just; His judgement in the Hereafter is fair and impartial. More than that, His mercy embraces everything. “.. God said: My chastisement – I smite with it whom I will, and My mercy embraces all things, and so I shall prescribe it for those who are God-fearing and pay zakat (alms), and those who believe in Our signs” (7:156). Also: “Then if they give the lie to you, say: Your Lord is the Lord of all-embracing mercy, and His punishment cannot be averted from the sinning people” (6:147).

Thus the superiority of the Will of God over the will of man is something reasonable and agreeable, especially when we put into consideration the openness of the gate of repentance, which is offered by the Almighty God for each wrongdoer as long as he (or she) is still alive in this testing world, so that God may forgive them. Then we can easily understand why God orders mankind not to say “I will indeed do that tomorrow (or any fixed time) without adding “if God so wills”, because we do not know if our will is not opposing God’ Will. God says: “And never say about anything: I will certainly do that tomorrow without adding: if God so wills. And remember your Lord if you forget, and say: may be my Lord will guide me to (something) closer (in time) than this by way of guidance”  (18:23-24).

God has not only endowed human being with “hearing and sight” (as in Q.76:2), but also with an inner intelligence faculty (the heart); and all of these faculties shall be interrogated by God on Judgment Day: “And do not pursue that of which you have no knowledge: verily, the hearing and the sight and the heart, each one of them shall be interrogated  about” (17:36). More than that, God also actively guides mankind by means of revelation bestowed on the Prophets.

God says: “Alif lam ra. A Book We have revealed to you, so that you may bring forth mankind, by their Lord’s leave out of the depths of darkness into the light, leading them to the Almighty, the One to whom all praise is due; to God, to whom all that is in the heavens and all that is on earth belongs. But woe to those who deny the truth from a terrible chastisement, those who prefer the life of this world over the Hereafter, and prevent people from the way of God, and seek to make it crooked – those, they are far astray. And We have not send any messenger except with the tongue of his people, that he might make (the Message) clear to them; God then sends astray whoever He will and He guides whomever He wills; and He is the Mighty, the Wise” (14:1-4).

Let us ponder on this: God sends astray whomever He wills and He guides whomever He wills; how? Because God knows the intention and the decision of each one, so He helps and makes easy to the seeker of the truth, and leaves the wrongdoer to stray. God says: “I swear by the night when it covers (the sun); and by the day when it unveils itself; and by the One who created the male and the female; your efforts are diverse: As for the one who is willing to give (whatever good thing he possesses), and fears (and conscious of) God and believes in the (truth) of the ultimate good, for him (or her) shall We make easy the path towards (ultimate) ease. But as for him (or her) who is niggardly, and thinks that he (or she) is self-sufficient, and calls the ultimate good a lie – for him (or her) shall We make easy the path towards hardship” (92:1-10).

After considering God’s explanation thoroughly about this matter, we can clearly see how mankind is honored by God, the Creator: “And indeed, We have conferred dignity of the children of Adam, and borne them over land and sea, and provided for them sustenance out of the good things of life, and favored them far above most of Our creation” (17:70).

This conferring dignity of the children of Adam is, in fact, the transaction of the bowing down of the Angels to Adam just after God created Adam. God says: “And when We said to the angels: Prostrate yourselves to Adam; so they all prostrated themselves, except Iblis, he refused and disdained, and so he became one of the disbelievers” (2: 34).

In the Qur’an God relates the prayers of the angels who are surrounding Him: “Our Lord You embrace all things in Your mercy and knowledge, so forgive those (human beings) who repent and follow Your Way and shield them from the chastisement of the Hell-fire. Our Lord, and admit them into the Gardens of Eden which You have promised them, along with whoever were righteous among their fathers and their spouses and their descendants. Surely You are the One who is the Mighty, the Wise” (40: 7-8).