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CHAPTER 9
11. THE THEORY OF JABR-O-IKHTIYAR
11.1 The Knowledge of God
There were three schools of thought in Mas’alah-e-Qada-o-Qadr (i.e. Jabr-O- Ikhtiyar): 1) Those, who considered man to be free, responsible and authoritative; 2) those, who believed that, not even a minutest particle could move without the Consent and Intention of God; and 3) those who took an intermediary line, with the belief that, man was both authoritative and subservient. This contention, whether individuals were under compulsion or free to act according to their own discretion and impulse, dates back centuries. While pondering over this problem, however, this Ayah of the Holy Quran should be kept in mind:
“Qad aflaha man zakkaha wa qad khaba man dassaha – (one, who purifies one’s own soul is victorious; but one who smears it with impiety is at loss.”
God certainly knows all about the past, present and future of an individual, but His knowledge does not compel anyone for any action. According to a Riwayaat ascribed to Hadrat Abdullah bin Umar: “God knows all about the thoughts and actions of the people, but His knowledge does not force anybody to commit a certain action.”
He also narrated the following Hadeeth of the Prophet certified by his father, Hadrat Umar:
“God’s Knowledge of the worldly affairs is just like the sky (which is covering you) and the earth (which is bearing you). So, as you cannot get out of the sky and the earth, you cannot, similarly, get rid of God’s Knowledge.
However as the sky and the earth do not induce you to commit a sin; similarly God’s Knowledge does not compel you to do so.”
Milal-O-Nahal records the following saying of Hadrat Ali in this respect:
“You believe it to be unavoidability. On the contrary, if it was so, then all Divine rewards and Punishments would have been null and void, and God would have not condemned a sinner, and rewarded a faithful. God does not compel anyone to do anything. He did not send his Prophets for nothing.”
Imam Hasan Basri too, had, once, replied to Hujjaj in about the same language, and Imam Hasan bin Hadrat Ali had, similarly, admonished the people of Basra in the same context and with the same argument.[87]
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