Finding Truth

Misconceptions-Muslims have no freewill

Misconceptions-Muslims have no freewill

by TrueCall

If everything in this world happens according to Allah's will then why are Human's Responsible for their actions?

Allah(swt) has created beings that are endowed with ‘freewill’. These beings are the Jinn and Humans. Humans are labeled as ‘Ashraf-ul-Makhlooqat’ i.e. ‘best of all creation’. If this ‘freewill’ were to be subtracted from the system then there would not be much difference between man and angels. Angels, another creation of The Almighty, do not possess ‘freewill’ and follow Allah’s command in verbatim without having an option to comply or deny. We have been blessed with this option where we can use our knowledge and intellect to react to different scenarios.

Allah(swt) without a doubt has Power over all things (Quran 5:40). He(saw) created everything that has been created and His(saw) knowledge is Absolute. When we talk about Allah’s will we mean two things:

Everything that happens is known by Allah(swt)

Everything that happens is by His permission

Knowledge does not contradict with the actions taken by freewill and neither does permission. To explain this further, Allah(swt) has knowledge of what humans will do and Allah(swt) has given them permission to do what they will. This is where freewill comes into play.

Man has been given guidance via prophets and it has been made clear to them what is good and what is wrong. With guidance, man has been blessed with the choice to do good or bad. Allah(swt) has given man guidance and the permission to do as he pleases thus only man is responsible for his action.

Allowing a person to do something after he has been given guidance and the sense to distinguish between right and wrong does not mean the one giving the permission is responsible. This is the entire concept of freewill. We have been given the choice and permission to comply or deny and thus we are responsible for our actions. Truly Allah(swt) is the “justest of Judges” (Quran 11:45)