Now Allah (SWT) can interfere at ANYTIME to change a matter...

Now Allah (SWT) can interfere at ANYTIME to change a matter without any inhibition from ANYONE. As such, His (SWT) Will to INTERFERE and change a matter prevails over His (SWT) creation's will. So Allah (SWT) Wills in the sense that He (SWT) ALLOWS an event to occur, without Him (SWT) stopping it from happening. That is His (SWT) Will, NOT that He (SWT) forces you to do something, and then punishes you for it.

(Exalted be Allah (SWT) from such an inference!) Given that fact, Allah (SWT) can, for example, intervene to return Palestine to the Muslims, but He (SWT) doesn't. That DOES NOT mean that Allah (SWT) approves of having Palestine in the hands of the Jews, but rather Allah (SWT) has a more sublime wisdom in not interfering. Now, the obvious question is: Why doesn't Allah (SWT) interfere, for example, to help the Muslims that are being slaughtered in Bosnia, or elsewhere?

The answer is as follows: Going back to the Free Will argument, you are responsible for your acts. If Allah (SWT) interferes to prevent evil from happening, then who will be held accountable? It is this "Accountability Principle" that precludes the interference of Allah (SWT) in many (not all) situations.

That DOES NOT mean, however, that Allah (SWT) NEVER intervenes or that He (SWT) approves of the matter, but rather Allah (SWT) intervenes only when He (SWT), Himself (SWT), sees a reason to do so, as when He (SWT) intervened and helped the Prophet Abraham (AS) from the fire of the nonbelievers, among other examples. Why did Allah (SWT) intervene then? That's where your faith in Allah's (SWT) wisdom comes into play.

Do you believe in Allah (SWT) to the extent that you trust what He (SWT) does, EVEN if you don't fully understand it? If yes, then you have answered the question for yourself. If not, then you have a weak faith which is in need of some strengthening. CONCLUSION In conclusion, I (myself, not Dr.

al-Tijani) realize that many points presented in this article are NOT easy to comprehend, nor are they meant for the average person; however, I have deeply suffered from the problem of Free Will and Fatalism, and my agony throughout that ordeal is virtually beyond description. As such, I do not wish anybody to suffer as I have.

Let me also assert that my PERSONAL opinion is that Fatalism in Islamic societies is one of THE MOST damaging ideologies around; it fosters a COMPLETE paralysis of intellectual and physical exertions, and promotes decay from within the community.