Title: Further Queries on Free-will... Question/Comments: Thank you for your reply. You write: "However, it is not a scientific fact that man's behavior is mechanical enough to be brought under the scope of the scientific principle of cause and effect." But does my judgment still not require some cause, however "mechanical" or "non-mechanical"? If we say man has complete moral responsibility for his actions, but that the basic moral values were placed in us by God breathing His Spirit into man, then is not God the "cause" for our own inherent knowledge? Further, all our own abilities, and all the forces which exist in us, and the universe (mechanical, spiritual, biological, chemical etc.) can be traced back to God, who "caused" (or Willed) them into being. Further, you write: "[We know] that even though our choice of preferred behavior may sometimes be affected by a number of external causes, yet they are not always bound by them" If we place a marble into a bowl, and give the bowl an external force, then the marble can move in various tangents and trajectories, i.e. it has several "choices" it can follow. But all these would require a "cause"; that being the initial input into the bowl. Salaam `alaykum and a belated Ramadhan Mubarak Razwan United Kingdom Answer: You write: ... but that the basic moral values were placed in us by God breathing His Spirit into man, then is not God the "cause" for our own inherent knowledge? Further, all our own abilities, and all the forces which exist in us, and the universe (mechanical, spiritual, biological, chemical etc.) can be traced back to God, who "caused" (or Willed) them into being. Indeed the knowledge of right and wrong in man, according to the Islamic belief, is placed by God and indeed all our abilities and the forces which are internal and/or external to man can be traced back to God, yet we know through introspection that, in our choice between good and evil, we are bound neither by our knowledge of right and wrong nor by any external or internal forces. I do submit that we may, sometimes or even most of the times, be bound by external forces in whether or not we are able to carryout our choice, yet we are generally not bound by any forces in making the choice between good and evil. Furthermore, in all such cases where a person loses the ability to make a conscious 'choice' between good and/or evil, Islam does not hold the person responsible for any wrong committed by him. It is only where a person actually opts for evil which exercising his 'choice' that he shall be held accountable for it. As for your example of the bowl of marbles, I do not consider that to be relevant to the case of moral 'choices' of human beings. Humans are, indeed, like marbles in many cases, as I had acknowledged in my previous response, yet in most of their 'choices' relating to good and evil, they do, in fact, enjoy and exercise free will, as opposed to marbles. I hope this helps. Regards, Moiz Amjad November 18, 2002