When & How are Fates Determined?

Moiz Amjad · January 9, 2001

Title:

Article:

In one of his articles[1]

Mr. Jochen Katz has pointed out a contradiction in Al-Qadar 97: 3 — 4, Al-Dukhaan

44: 3, Al-Hadeed 57: 22 and Al-Israa 17: 13.

Al-Qadar 97: 3 — 4 reads as:

The Night of Qadar is better than a thousand months. The angels and the Ruh

descend during it, according to God’s command with all decrees.

Al-Dukhaan 44: 3 reads:

We revealed it in a blessed night, for We had [decided] to

warn.

Al-Hadeed 57: 22 reads as:

No misfortune befalls — neither the earth nor your own selves — but it is

already recorded in a book, before We bring it into existence.

Al-Israa 17: 13 reads as:

Every man’s luck have We fastened to his own neck, and on the Day of

Judgment We shall bring out [for him] a book, spread open.

Explaining the contradiction in the above-cited verses, Mr. Katz writes:

To Muslims, the “Night of Power” is a blessed night on which fates are

settled and on which everything relating to life, death, etc., which occurs

throughout the year is decreed. It is said to be the night on which Allah’s

decrees for the year are brought down to the earthly plane. In other words,

matters of creation are decreed a year at a time.

Contradicting this, Sura 57:22 says, “No affliction befalls in the earth or

in your selves, but it is in a Book before we create it.” This means it is

written in the Preserved Tablet, being totally fixed in Allah’s knowledge

before anyone was created.

Also contradictory is Sura 17:13: “And every man’s fate We have fastened to

his own neck.” This says that man alone is responsible for what he does and

what happens to him.

A clarification of the cited verses should

suffice as answers to the objections of Mr. Katz.

As far as the ‘Muslim Belief’ relating to the ‘Night

of Qadr‘ (Night of Power) is concerned, it is not, as Mr. Katz has

stated, the night ‘on which fates are settled and on which everything relating

to life, death, etc., which occurs throughout the year is decreed’. On the

contrary, it is the night on which, also as Mr. Katz has stated, ‘Allah’s

decrees for the year are brought down to the earthly plane’. There is a

significant difference in the implications of the two statements. According to

one, God makes decrees for a year at a time, while according to the other,

irrespective of the length of time for which God decrees, these decrees are

brought down to the earth, on the Night of Qadr. Thus, the first two

cited verses do not, as Mr. Katz has stated, imply that ‘matters of creation are

decreed a year at a time’. On the contrary, the first verse implies only that

the decreed matters are assigned to the respective angels and brought down to

earth on the Night of Qadr[2].

The third cited verse, which, incidentally, is

the only verse cited by Mr. Katz that actually is pertinent to the issue of

fate, states that the occurrences in the world — whether internal or external

to man — are not mere chances but are, in fact, decreed, determined and

recorded in a book, before they actually occur. Nevertheless, even this verse

does not inform us about how much sooner than their occurrences are the decrees

made. Thus, the stated verse does not necessarily imply, as Mr. Katz has stated,

that ‘it is written in the Preserved Tablet, being totally fixed in Allah’s

knowledge before anyone was created’. On the contrary, it merely implies that

all the happenings around us are strictly in accordance with God’s decisions,

which precede these happenings.

The fourth verse cited by Mr. Katz states that

every man’s luck have We fastened to his own neck. The word ‘luck’ in this verse

does not imply ‘fate’ in the connotation in which Mr. Katz has construed it to

be. In this verse, the word ‘luck’ or ‘fate’ is with reference to a person’s

being among the successful or the unsuccessful from the perspective of the

hereafter, as is evidenced by the succeeding part of the verse. In other words,

the verse actually implies that a person’s luck from the perspective of his

ultimate success and failure is in his own hands. When he decides to do ‘good’,

he is allowed to do so and vice versa. In other words, a scroll is tied to each

person’s neck, on which he himself, through his ‘good’ and ‘bad’ deeds writes

his fate for the hereafter. Then, in the hereafter, this record shall be

compiled and placed open before each individual. Thus, explaining this verse, Ibn

Katheer writes:

“Every man’s luck have We fastened to his own

neck” relates to the deeds that are wrought by each man, as has been reported

from Ibn Abbas (ra), Mujahid and others besides him that they

include all his deeds — the good as well as the bad. Such deeds get stuck to

the person and he shall be held accountable for them. Thus, whoever has done

even a grain of good, shall find it present and whoever has done even a grain

of evil shall find it present… Whoever does evil, shall face the

consequences. The implication is that each of man’s deeds is being saved for

him — whether it be big or small — it is being recorded at all times.

Keeping the above explanation in perspective,

the three topics covered by the cited verses is:

All happenings — whether internal or

external to man — are according to the decisions of God, which precede

them;
The angels bring all of God’s decrees to the

earth on the Night of Power.
Every man’s luck in the hereafter is tied to

his own neck — is in his own hands.

Is this really a case of inconsistency and

contradiction?

Let it be for the reader to decide.

[1]