This review...

This review, evaluation, and estimation and the determination of limits and characteristics may be called the determination of the action ( taqdīr-e kār ), which in the realm of knowledge is called epistemic- determination ( taqdīr-e ‘ilmī ), and in the realm of the external world is called objective determination ( taqdīr-e ‘aynī ).

Likewise, the final stage may be called ‘decree’ ( qaḍā’ ), which in the realm of knowledge is called ‘epistemic-decree’ and in the realm of the external world is called ‘objective decree’. Given these introductory remarks, we should heed the following noble verse: “ When He decrees an affair He only says to it, ‘Be’ and then it is ” (2:117).

In this noble verse, the existence of every creature, which is denoted by the sentence “then it is,” succeeds the command “Be” of the Supreme Creator, which is similar to the succession of existence ( wujūd ) after being made existent ( ījād ) in the words of the divine sages. Likewise, making existent ( ījād ) succeeds the divine decree, which naturally will result in being the object of decree, and these two concepts…