Belief in Divine Decree (Qadar)

The doctrine of divine decree (al-qadar) has been one of the most sensitive and philosophically rich subjects in Islamic theology throughout history. Al-Aqeedah al-Wasitiyyah presents the Athari position with characteristic precision, steering between two opposite extremes that distort the proper understanding of Allah's relationship to human action.

The Athari belief in qadar, as articulated by Ibn Taymiyyah, rests on four pillars established by the scholars of Ahl al-Sunnah: First, al-ilm — Allah's knowledge encompasses all things, past, present, and future, including every action of every created being. Second, al-kitabah — Allah inscribed all that would occur in al-Lawh al-Mahfuz (the Preserved Tablet) fifty thousand years before the creation of the heavens and earth, as established by the hadith in Sahih Muslim. Third, al-mashiyyah — nothing occurs in existence except by the will of Allah; everything that happens has been willed by Him, whether it involves obedience or disobedience, belief or disbelief. Fourth, al-khalq — Allah is the Creator of all things, including the actions of human beings.

The extreme of al-Jabriyyah — the doctrine of absolute compulsion, which holds that human beings have no real agency and are like feathers blown by the wind — is rejected as both theologically incorrect and contrary to basic human experience. The Quran addresses this explicitly: 'And whoever wills may take a path to his Lord' (Quran 76:29), affirming genuine human will and choice. Human beings are held accountable precisely because they genuinely choose and genuinely act, even though those choices and actions are within the encompassing knowledge and will of Allah.

The extreme of al-Qadariyyah — the position that human beings create their own actions independently of Allah's will and knowledge — is equally rejected. This position, historically associated with certain Mu'tazili tendencies, effectively limits divine sovereignty and creates a domain of existence beyond Allah's control, which is theologically untenable.

The Athari resolution to the apparent tension is to affirm both divine sovereignty and human responsibility without attempting to resolve the philosophical difficulty through speculative reasoning. Human beings have a real, created will and real, created power of action. These are genuine, not merely apparent. But they exist within the broader framework of Allah's encompassing will, knowledge, and creative power. The Prophet ﷺ said: 'Every one of you has been created with his creation brought together in his mother's womb... then the angel is sent and blows the ruh into him, and is commanded with four matters: to write his provision, his lifespan, his deeds, and whether he will be wretched or happy.' (Al-Bukhari and Muslim.)

Ibn Taymiyyah also addresses the misuse of qadar as an excuse for sin — the argument that 'Allah decreed this for me, so how can I be responsible?' He responds that this argument was made by the polytheists of Mecca and was explicitly rejected by the Quran (6:148). The fact that Allah decreed an action does not remove the moral responsibility of the actor, because the decree operates through the actor's own genuine will and choice. One cannot simultaneously claim the excuse of compulsion and yet feel the pleasure of gratification when one sins — both cannot be true at once.