I chose, and it was my decision, my effort and thus my success
I chose…and it was my decision, my failure…my fault.
Or not?
A Decree, they say. It was only as He had willed. So what does this mean? I had nothing to do with it? I’m entangled yet set free…
“No calamity befalls on the earth or in yourselves but it is inscribed in the Book of Decrees (Al‑Lawh Al‑Mahfooz) before We bring it into existence. Verily, that is easy for Allaah. In order that you may not grieve at the things over that you fail to get, nor rejoice over that which has been given to you. And Allaah likes not prideful boasters” [al-Hadeed 57:22-23]
I’ve been thinking for almost all my life about this concept of preordainment, the obvious paradox we often contend and fail to understand.
So it’s been written already, does that mean I have no control? If so, then why am I to blame for some of the wrong things I do? They say what is yours will come to you no matter what, so can I just sit here and wait?
Thinking about this got me to the point where I just told myself “you know what? just go with the flow, have tawakkul, do what is right and just believe…” and then it hit me.
I have come to understand and my understanding may not be as deep or as sound but it cleared the fog. The Question is not whether we have control or not, but how much control we have.
When we ask the question, “why are we to blame for the wrong things we do, when it was already written?” The answer is because we made the conscious decision to choose that option, among the choices we had. We had no control over the chances of being in such situations, but we had every control over what our choice of actions would be. And though its already written, we do not know what has been written.
Similar to this is the case of the one who goes for a job interview. The definite chances are he could be successful or unsuccessful in the end of it. Other chances include; having a male or female interviewer, having an interviewer in a good or bad mood, having a lenient or strict interview, being asked easy questions or complicated ones, and the list goes on… The individual has absolutely no control over the chance presented to him, But, he has every control over the choice of action or reaction he makes. If he is faced with a female interviewer for example, and the chance that she extends her hands for a handshake is presented to him, then his choice could be to shake or not to shake. And if his choice of action ultimately results in a success or a failure, would it be logical to hold himself responsible? Here is where tawakkul comes In play…
I usually tell my friends, Allaah would never make your means to getting what is right for you, the wrong path. By this I mean, you will never have to do anything wrong to get what is right for you, and if you are on the verge of losing something and all you have to do is that one wrong deed, which Allaah has forbidden, then forget about it. It cannot be what is khayr (good) for you, I believe.
So assuming this man did not shake the lady, at the expense of His job, then He was never meant to get it, and Allaah had just tested Him or used that as a means to keep that job away, to make way for a better one. That I can say is a step-by-step outplay of His preordained decree.
“No calamity befalls on the earth or in yourselves but it is inscribed in the Book of Decrees (Al‑Lawh Al‑Mahfooz) before We bring it into existence. Verily, that is easy for Allaah. In order that you may not grieve at the things over that you fail to get, nor rejoice over that which has been given to you. And Allaah likes not prideful boasters” [al-Hadeed 57:22-23]
In an alternate situation, if he agrees to do this one wrong deed, and gets the job but later encounters problems or worse still (wa iyadhubillah), is called to account and punished by Allaah, then its safe to say, He had the choice and chose that action by his own self and through his own logical thinking, thus, deserving the punishment.
The same goes for everything else in life. We have no control over the kind of people we meet; the chance of meeting a rude or nice person on the way, the chance of meeting a poor old lady, or a young vibrant lad, the chance of bumping into that person who just had a bad day or the one who just got the best news of their life!, But, we have every control over our choices of actions, how we treat them and the memories of ourselves we leave in them.
We have no control over the families into which we are born; the chances of being born into an elite noble family, or a modest poor home, the chances of having righteous family members, or rebellious siblings, the chances of being orphaned at an early age or having our parents still alive, But, we have every control over the kind of people we become, the kind of relationships we have with the people in our lives, the characters we adopt, the lessons we implement…
And lastly, we have no control over the time death would visit us, the place, the situation, but we have every control over the condition of our heart, the deeds we take back to our Lord, the state in which we return…These are our choices and Allaah is most Just and Merciful.
May Allaah make us of those who return to Him in the best of states, with Imaan in our hearts and Shahadah on our Lips; Muslims…Mu’mins…Muhsins…Allaahumma Aameeen
