The term /yastaqim/ is used with an interesting sense which...

The term /yastaqim/ is used with an interesting sense which shows that the main road,- the one in front of Man, is the straight way to happiness and salvation and other roads are the false ones leading to aberration. All of Man's talents, along with his hidden and apparent powers and his natural capacities, are equipped so as to help him move forward on the straight way. When going to extremes, devilish temptations, and misleading propaganda do not interfere.

Man, with the help of his nature, follows along the straight way, and we know that the straight way is always the nearest path to the goal. It is possible, however, for Man to imagine that this free-will is so infinite that he can do whatever he wishes and that he is not in need of Allah's help to follow the straight way.

The next and the last verse of the Sura points to the authority of Allah Will and says: But you cannot will, except as Allah wills, the Lord of the Worlds In fact, these two verses illustrate the mid-way for Man's limited will. On the one hand, it says that Man is free and can decide what he wills to do, but, on the other hand, it says: You cannot will, except as Allah wills. It means that you are created free, but this free-will is from Allah and He has willed that you be so.

Man is neither obliged nor completely free in his deeds. Neither 'fatalism' nor 'infinite freedom' is correct. Whatever Man possesses out of wisdom, intelligence, bodily ability and mental capacity for making decisions, all in all, are from Allah. It is this very fact that requires Man to be in need of Him and, due to his freedom and his free-will, to be responsible for his own duties and actions.

The term /rabbul-'alamin/ 'the Lord of the worlds' shows, well, that Allah's Will follows along the path of Man's training and development throughout the world. Allah never wills that anyone should go astray or commit sin and lose the nearness to Himself. He, according to His Lordship, helps all those who decide to travel on the path of spiritual development. It is surprising that fatalists have grasped the second verse while the 'adherents of infinite free-will' have assumed the first verse.

Separating these kinds of verses from each other often causes aberration and lands one in a state of being misled. Verses of the Qur'an should be considered inseparable and the benefits should be taken from all of them.