The Meaning of Destiny and Believing in It

Some scholars said, “Al-Qadar [the Destining] is Allah’s Management of things in a way that complies with His Eternal Knowledge and His Eternal Will.” He Brings the thing into existence at the time that He Knew it would exist; included in that is the voluntary deed of the slave, whether good or evil. What proves that the Qadar is confirmed is the saying of the Messenger of Allah to Jibril when Jibril asked him about Iman:

الإِيمانُ أنْ تُؤْمِنَ بِاللهِ وَمَلائِكَتِهِ وَكُتُبِهِ وَرُسُلِهِ وَاليَومِ الآخِرِ وَتُؤمِنَ بِالقَدَرِ خَيرِهِ وَشَرّهِ

[which means] “Iman is to believe in Allah, and His Angels, and His Books, and His Messengers, and the Last Day; and to believe in the Qadar, its good and its evil.”[1] Narrated by Muslim.

Allah has Ordained the creations, and among them are the good and the evil. All of them exist by the Eternal Destining of Allah. As for the Destining of Allah which is the Attribute of His Self, it is not described as being evil. Allah’s Destining of evil, kufr, and sins, is not evil from Allah, and His Destining of belief and obedience is good from Allah. The Will of Allah is fulfilled in all of the subjects of His Will and in accordance with His Knowledge of them. So whatever He Knew would exist, He Willed for it to exist at the time that He Knew it would exist; and what He Knew would not exist, He did not Will for it to exist.

[1] Narrated by Muslim.