Re: Rizk being fixed...
Here's the reply I received from Islamtoday.com:
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Assalamo alaykum, Here's a question that someone has asked. Please answer it if you can, insha'Allah. "OK...now a theory brothers use is that rizk is fixed...i am in no doubt it is true...but im just wondering if Allah controls when we recieve our wealth... As in does Allah say when we are born he is going to make £2 mil in his lifetime but leaves us to decide when to get it...but we just get it... or is it that Allah fixes when exactly we recieve each bit of money...like people tell me that say when selling an apple at a stall...the result of whether it sells or not is in the hands of Allah so Allah is in control of every time you recieve money... Is it the former or the latter..." Jazakumullahu khairan. WasSalaam.
Answered by Sheikh `Abd al-Rahmân b. Nâsir al-Barrâk:
Our faith in Divine Decree must include the following four points:
We must believe that Allah has knowledge of everything that is going to happen. Allah says: “Know that Allah is capable of all things and that Allah comprehends everything with His knowledge.”
We must believe that Allah has recorded everything that will happen in creation in the Preserved Tablet (al-Lawh al-Mahfûz). Allah’s Messenger (peace be upon him) said: “Allah recorded everything that will happen in Creation five thousand years before He created the heavens and the Earth [Sahîh Muslim]. Allah says: “And of everything we have taken account in a clear book.”
We must believe that nothing happens in Creation except as He wills. Allah says: “And you do not will except that He wills.” Allah says: “Whomever He wills He misguides and whoever He wills he places on a straight path.” He says: “If Allah had willed, they would not have engaged in polytheism.”
We must believe that Allah has created everything in existence. There is no creator, sustainer, or god besides Him. Allah says: “Allah is the creator of everything.” Allah says: “Allah created you and what you do.”
There are two groups of Muslims who held beliefs contrary to this truth:
1. The Qadariyyah: They denied Divine Decree. The Companions declared them unbelievers because by doing so they denied Allah’s eternal knowledge. They said that people create their own actions. They do not exist as a sect today, but there are still people around who claim that people create their own voluntary actions.
2. The Jabriyyah: They denied human free will and claimed that the actions of people are really nothing more than Allah’s actions. They conclude that people are not responsible for their own actions.
Ahl al-Sunnah takes a middle path between these two extremes. We believe in Divine Decree and we believe at the same time in human free will.
You may also benefit from this excerpt from our booklet on Islam. We are attaching the whole booklet to your question for your further benefit:
BELIEF IN DIVINE DECREE
God, in His timelessness, knows everything that goes on in His Creation and the time that it occurs. From the perspective of temporal beings like us, this means that God knows everything that happened in the past, everything that is happening in the present, and everything that will happen in the future. God’s Divine Knowledge is perfect, so whatever He knows is going to happen in the future must come to pass.
Furthermore, God has Absolute Sovereignty over His Creation. Everything that exists within it and every event that occurs is a direct result of His creating it. Nothing happens in Creation except by His Power and as He wills.
THE FREE WILL OF THE HUMAN BEING
An important aspect of Islam is that every human being has the free will to choose between right and wrong. God has honored humanity with this great gift.
Human free will does not in any way contradict the fact that God knows everything that will ever occur in Creation and that what is in God’s knowledge must come to pass. The fact that God knows what a person is going to do tomorrow does not mean that He is forcing that person’s hand.
Someone might ask: If God knows that I, for instance, am going to commit a sin tomorrow, then it is unavoidable that I do so, because God’s Knowledge is infallible and what God knows must come to pass. Therefore, I have no free will. My free will is but an illusion.
The answer to this is quite simple: God’s perspective is quite different from that of a human being. God is timeless. His Divine Knowledge is equally timeless. The notions of past, present, and future have meaning only to a being existing in time. God knows, in His timelessness, every decision that a person makes of his or her own free will at every moment of his or her life. This in no way negates that each one of this person’s decisions is made by this person of his or her own free will. God’s knowledge of this person’s decision does not imply that he or she is being compelled to make that decision.
Human free will does not in any way contradict the fact that God has absolute sovereignty over everything in Creation. Nor does it contradict that fact that nothing happens in Creation except what God wills. God created within the human being the ability to formulate an intention. God wants people to be able to make their own choices. When a person makes a choice, God, by his Divine Will, creates the actions and circumstances that allow the person’s intention to be carried out. It is God’s Will that human beings have free will. God wants people to make their own decisions, whether these decisions are right or wrong. God is not always pleased with the decisions that people make, but He wants them to be able to make these decisions on their own.
By exercising free will, a person can attain a level higher than that of the angels. This is because a person who decides to worship God does so because he or she wants to. This makes the person’s devotions greater and more valuable than those of the angels, because the angels have no choice. It is the nature of angels to worship God and obey Him in all things.
Fatwâ Department Research Committee of IslamToday chaired by Sheikh `Abd al-Wahhâb al-Turayrî
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