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Fate and Fatalism in Islam a Philosophical Appraisal

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Fate and Fatalism in Islam a Philosophical Appraisal \ FATE AND FATALISM IN ISLAM A PHILOSOPHICAL APPRAISAL A Ph.D. DISSERTATION SUBMITTED BY MS RUBINA MUNIR \ 'l L a Supervisor: V. Prof. Dr. Abdul Khaliq, Department of Philosophy University of the Punjab New Campus, Lahore Co-Supervisor: Dr. Khurshid Anwar Chairman, Department of philosophy University of Peshawar CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENT 1 ABSTRACT 3 CHAP: I INTRODUCTION. 7 CHAP: II QURANIC THOUGHT. 36 CHAP: III PROPHETIC AND POST-PROPHETIC 63 (OR EARLY MEDIEVAL MUSLIM) Thought Section A: Man and His Freedom in the Prophetic Teachings (Ahadith Literature) Section B: Post Prophetic ( or Early Medieval Muslim) Thought CHAP: IV MUSLIM THINKERS AND THEIR CONCEPT OF FATE AND FATALISM 140 Section A: Medieval Muslim Thinkers Section B: Modern Muslim Thinkers CHAP: V CONCLUSION. 196 BIBLIOGRAPHY. 210 "Islam is not a religion in the ancient sense of the word. It is an attitude- an attitude, that is to say, of Freedom, and even of defiance to the universe. It is really a protest against the entire outlook of the ancient world. Briefly, it is the discovery of Man". Iqbal: Stray Reflections 1 Acknowledgment As the time marched onwards, more and more obstructions came in the way. At one time it seemed that I could not work any further on it and thought it better to stop. But with the blessings and mercifulness of God, I managed to continue my work with the spirit of the Quran "Do not be despondent from the blessings of God". It will be a failing on my part not to mention those who really helped me to complete this thesis. Professor Dr. Abdul Khaliq ex-Chairman, Department of Philosophy, University of the Punjab, Lahore, my advisor, suggested the topic for this dissertation. I thought the topic too difficult for me, but his constant encouragement made me accept this topic. Without his personal efforts, interest and involvement this dissertation would have never been materialized. He is indeed an affectionate and loving personality. All my prayers are for him and his family. Second, I should pay my tribute to Dr. Khurshid Anwar, Assistant Professor, Department of Philosophy, University of Peshawar, my co¬ advisor, who also showed his keen interest in this dissertation and tolerated me for a long time. Third, my sincerest gratitude goes to Prof. Dr. Naeem Ahmad, Chairman Department of Philosophy, University of the Punjab, whose eleventh hour's intervention and pursuance brought this dissertation into day light. I am extremely grateful to him and his wife, who also helped me in this regard. 2 Fourth, Prof. Dr. Jamal Ara, Principal Jinnah College for Women, University of Peshawar who not only allowed me to work on my dissertation but whose dynamic, inspiring and graceful personality also impressed me to complete the requisite work. In this regard all the senior staff and my friends in the college also extended to me their sincere co-operation. Fifth, will not feel myself relaxed and honest if I do not acknowledge the sincere co-operation of all the teachers and ministerial staff of the Department of Philosophy, University of Peshawar who encouraged me to complete this work. Last but not least this dissertation would have never been completed without the help, blessings and prayers of my parents, my sisters, my brothers and other relatives. 3 ABSTRACT CHAPTER I Introduction In the introductory chapter an attempt is made to show the Islamic religious approaches towards fate and fatalism! This brief survey indicates that this problem is central to human life. Our socio-moral and religious responsibility virtually hangs upon this issue. CHAPTER II Quranic Thought In this chapter the problem of fate and fatalism is examined in the light of the Quranic teachings. Central contention of this chapter is that the Quran pre-supposes two basic qualities of man, that is, intelligence and freedom. Man needs intelligence to see the difference between good and evil, right and wrong, vice and virtue. And he needs freedom to opt for a certain course of life which he deems fit for his future. If these two basic qualities are dismissed, and denied, then the whole process of religion would lose its relevance and significance. 4 CHAPTER III PROPHETIC AND POST PROPHETIC(OR EARLY MEDIEVAL MUSLIM) THOUGHT: Section A: Section A is devoted to Ahadith literature This chapter is divided into two sections. Section A is devoted to Ahadith literature or the prophetic teachings concerning the nature of man and his freedom.while section B covers the Post-Prophetic (or early medieval Muslim) Thought. In Section A an attempt is made to show that the Holy Prophet (peace be upon Him ) does insist that man is essentially responsible for his own fate. It is he who determines and defines his own destiny. It is imperative for him to put in the necessary struggle for the establishment of a just socio-moral order. If man takes the initiative, he would find God on his side. History moves on certain moral principles and it is the responsibility of a community to safeguard its moral foundations otherwise it will drift towards decay and destruction. Section B: POST PROPHETIC ( or early Medieval Muslim )Thought However, when Islam moved out of Arabian penensula, new nations entered the fold of Islam. These new entrants brought with them their own socio-cultural and ethico- philosophical background. Some of them were given to deterministic and fatalistic views of life. Naturally they wanted to read their own socio-cultural contentions in Islamic teachings. This gave birth to diverse movements. Asharites, for example, pleaded for 5 determinism while the Mutazilites were staunch advocates of human freedom. It is really unfortunate that inspite of Quranic insistence and emphasis on human freedom, it was the Asharites' view that prevailed in Muslim society. Attempt is also made to assess the views of some of the most outstanding individual thinkers of early Muslim thought. CHAPTER IV MUSLIM THINKERS AND THEIR CONCEPT OF FATE AND FATALISM Again this chapter is divided into two sections.Section A deals with medieval muslim thinkers while Section B covers the modern muslim thinkers .In Section A Medieval Muslim philosophers have received adequate attention. Central contention of this chapter is that while Islam does not minimise the importance of "Know thyself", it does lay heavy emphasis on "Choose thyself". "Choose thyself" naturally entails action oriented life as opposed to speculative trends of "Know thyself".Here we have tried to focus our attention on some of the leading muslim thinkers,such as ,Al.kindi,Al.Farabi,etc.Section B: Modern Muslim thinkers contend that it is indeed the actions of man that determine his destiny; and his actions pre-suppose his choice and his freedom. We have examined some of the outstanding Modern Muslim thinkers, such as Shah Wali ullah, Iqbal, Fazl-ur-Rahman, Hussain Nasr, Ismael al- Farooqi and Ali Shariati. 6 CHAPTER V Conclusion On the basis of our survey of the Quranic thought, Prophetic and Post-prophetic(or early medieval muslim )thought and the rationalistic thought(i.e later medieval and modem medieval thought)we are driven to the conclusion that unlike all other ideologies, Islam is uncompromisingly committed to the freedom of man. For Islam man is free, man is freedom. If he trades away his freedom, he virtually trades away his own being. Freedom alongwith intelligence, are essential ingredients of human life. These are the primary qualities of man. If we dismiss these qualities, we dismiss the foundations of moral judgment/responsibility. Of course some sort of confusion still persists in Muslim societies and it is the responsibility of the intellectuals of the Muslim world to dispel this confusion, and bring home to them that both intelligence and freedom of man are indispensalbe pre-requisites of the vice-generency of man in this world. Without asuming these elements, the whole process of religion would turn into a farce. 7 CHAPTER-1 Introduction The world Fate (Taqdir) is derivative of the root-word (Qadara) which can not be translated into a single word in any language. It implies : “to weigh”, “to judge”, “to estimate the value” or “to measure the capacity of something, as also the power, the strength or the ability in judgement of values'. 'Amr' (direction), and Masheat (the will or Plan of Allah), are two other words commonly used in literature to give the idea of 'destiny’ or 'fate' or 'lot'. To understand Allah's wise Plan, we have to view 'Masheat' from three aspects. In its first aspect it operates in Allah’s creative power through which comes into existence everything by His word of command and direction. For each and every creation, in the Plan of Allah individual properties of things and the rules that govern them are fixed and laid into the very constitution of these things. :Allah creates what He wills" and gives order and proportion to it according to His wise and perfect Scheme. In the second aspect of Masheat, everything starts functioning in strict obedience to the immutable laws of His creation. Everything, right from the smallest atom to the biggest heavenly body, is bound to follow the path shown to it without the least possible deviation. The first aspect of Allah’s Masheat is known only to Allah Himself. With our limited faculties of knowledge and understanding we can have a glimpse of Allah's Plan or 'Masheat' operating in the Universe in its second aspect only. This glimpse enables us to correlate various laws governing the universe with absolute perfection of Allah's Plan, to understand the working thereof for the purpose 8 of making our own lives sublime and to appreciate the unity of purpose, beauty, harmony and orderliness, noticeable so manifestly in all the perfect and graceful laws of Allah.
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