al-Tijani says...

al-Tijani says: al-Imam Ali (PBUH) struck the nail on the head when he (PBUH) said: “…and He is never disobeyed as a sign of His defeat (or lack of power and ability);…” If Allah wanted to force ANYBODY into doing something, NOTHING could stop Him.

Rather it is corroboration by al-Imam Ali (PBUH) to what Allah said: “Say, `The Truth is from your Lord` Let him who will believe (it), and let him who will reject (it)…”(1) Then al-Imam Ali (PBUH) strikes the inner workings of the mind and consciousness by asserting that if EVERYTHING was the Will of Allah, then the function of the Prophets and Messengers would be a total waste of time.

Again, if EVERYTHING was the Will of Allah, Revealed Scripture would have no value either; this would clearly violate the verses of the Quran: “Verily this Quran doth guide to that which is most right (or stable), and giveth the glad tidings to the believers who work deeds of righteousness, that they shall have a magnificent reward.” (2) So the Quran IS a book that guides people (which means that It was revealed for the purpose of guiding mankind), and the believers are AT LIBERTY to”…work deeds of righteousness…” The contention is that if EVERYTHING was the Will of Allah, why would Allah send Messengers to warn us when He has already judged us?

What good is it to do any kind of deeds (good or bad), when the judgment for these deeds has already been rendered, regardless of what you do? We have seen many sects in Islam that have either said: EVERYTHING is the Will of Allah –This is Jabriyyah; or those who said: EVERYTHING is Free Will –This is Qadariyyah. Both views are wrong because they are not realistic. Can you control to which parents you are born to, for example?

Or is it realistic to believe that Allah FORCES you to drink alcohol, and then punishes you for it? The answer to both questions is: OBVIOUSLY NOT!

The Shia, however, have struck it right: al-Imam Ja’far al- Sadiq (PBUH) said: “It is not TOTAL Free Will, nor is it TOTAL Fatalism; rather, it is a matter between [those] two matters.” When a man asked Imam al-Sadiq (PBUH) what he (PBUH) meant by the above quote, Imam al-Sadiq (PBUH) answered: “To walk on the ground is not the same as to fall on it!” What a response!!!

(My comment Here’s what it means: You walk on the ground voluntarily, but it may happen to you that you fall because something unexpected happened to you (for instance, somebody hit you from the back). Who among you wants to fall on the ground on purpose?