of the Authorized English translation of the Quran by Dr. Rashad Khalifa
Predestination
We are absolutely free to believe or disbelieve
in God. It is God's will that we will
(18:29,
25:57,
73:19,
74:37,
76:29,
78:39,
80:12).
After committing our original sin
(
Appendix 7), God gave us a chance to denounce our crime
and accept His absolute authority (33:72).
But we decided that we wanted to see a demonstration of Satan's competence
as a god.
Many people protest the fact that God
has created them, to put them through this gruesome test. Obviously, such
people are not aware that
[1] they have committed a horrendous crime
(Introduction & Appendix
7), and
[2] that they were given a chance to denounce
their crime and redeem themslves, but they chose to go through the test.
We learn from 57:22 that our lives, along
with everything else around us, are pre-recorded on something like a videotape.
God fully knows what kind of decision
each of us is destined to make;
He knows which of us are going to Heaven
and which are going to Hell. Even before we were born into this world,
God knew which souls are good and which
souls are evil.
As far as God's omniscience is concerned,
we can imagine a stamp on everyone's forehead that says "Heaven" or "Hell."
Yet, as far as we are concerned, we are
totally free to side with God's absolute authority, or Satan's polytheistic
views.
Predestination, therefore, is a fact as
far as God is concerned, not as far as we are concerned.
This understanding explains the numerous
verses stating that
"God guides whomever He wills, and
misleads whomever He wills."
Based on His knowledge, God assigns our
souls to the circumstances that we deserve. When God said to the angels,
"I know what you do not know"
(2:30), this meant that some of us deserved
a chance to redeem ourselves. One example of God's guidance for those who
deserve guidance is found in 21:51:
"We granted Abraham his guidance, for
we were fully aware of him."
In other words, God knew that Abraham
was a good soul who deserved to be guided, and God granted him his guidance
and understanding.
Another good example is stated in 12:24.
Joseph fell for the Egyptian nobleman's wife, and almost committed adultery
"if it were not that he saw a sign
from his Lord."
God teaches us in 12:24
that He
"diverted evil and sin from Joseph, for
he was one of My devoted worshipers."
Was it Joseph who controlled his lust?
Or, was it God's protection from sin that rendered him chaste?
Such is predestination.
