The Quran, Determinism, and Free Will
The people of opinion based their views on the Quran, deriving clear signs from it to support their truthfulness. The Sufis, who stand in opposition to the people of opinion, also based their doctrines on the Quran, drawing clear signs from it to validate their truthfulness. This peculiar phenomenon has entangled many Orientalists, who, intending to study the Quran, have committed a grave mistake by thinking that some parts of the Quran contradict others. They have exaggerated this upon themselves and their people.
The truth in this matter is that the Quran has both apparent and hidden aspects. Its apparent aspects relate to the appearances of things, and its hidden aspects are based on the truths entrenched behind the appearances. In its educational approach, it took the appearances as a bridge through which the knower (‘arif) conveys the hidden meanings. In this, it says: “We will show them Our signs in the horizons and within themselves until it becomes clear to them that it is the truth. Have your Lord not made it evident that He is over all things a Witness?” (41:53).
The appearances here are the signs in the horizons, and the hidden aspects are the signs within the selves. The mind’s gates to the signs in the horizons are the senses, and all senses are paired - right and left - with varying strengths between them. Consequently, what the right eye conveys to the mind of the visible object differs from what the left eye conveys. There is no correctness between them. This means that there is a filter in the mind to eliminate what is called the deception of the senses and to arrive at the matter as it truly is.
Many naive minds lack the ability to free themselves from the captivity of the senses and the mind, which are heavily dependent on sensory data. Since the Quran is a book of creed, law, and truth, and there is no path to its truth except through its creed and legislation, and since it is not in the interest of the creed to confront its call with what the apparent sight gives through the eyes, it has come to us with an apparent aspect that matches the illusion given by the senses about the visible world, and a hidden aspect that rests on the clear truth.
By accommodating our illusion, He intended to spare us hardship when there was no need for it, gradually transitioning us, over time, to the truth. To illustrate this, let us consider two examples: one at the level of the illusion of the senses, which is a gross illusion, and the other at the level of the illusion of the mind, which is a subtle illusion.
As for the first example, when the Quran came to call for creed people who saw with their own eyes that the earth is flat, He did not want to impose the hardship of calling them to a new creed in God or to a new idea about the earth that contradicts the obviousness seen by the eye. Instead, He addressed them in context with verses about the earth that did not trouble the invitees regarding what they were accustomed to about it. He said: “And We built the sky with Our hands, and indeed, We are expanding it. And the earth - we spread it out, and excellent is the preparer” (51:47-48). He also said: “Have We not made the earth a resting place? And the mountains as stakes?” (78:6-7). Further, He said: “And after that, We crushed it and extracted from it its water and its pasture” (79:27-28). And He declared: “And the earth, moreover, We have extended, and cast therein firmly set mountains, and produced therein every kind of balanced thing” (15:19).
When they entered into the creed and acted upon the Sharia, it became clear to them that the earth is not flat except as the eye sees it. There is no way to reach the truth by rejecting what the eye sees - all rejection stems from our calculation. Similarly, there is no way to reach the truth by completely shadowing or distorting the illusions of the senses. Rather, the right guidance is to make what the eyes see a metaphor for what the mind sees, and what the mind sees a metaphor for what the hearts see, which is the truth. Then, the truth remains the truth moment after moment.
The example that corresponds to the illusion of the mind is given by these two verses: “Whoever desires to be righteous - let him be upon a right course. And you do not will except that Allah wills” (6:125).
A diligent worshiper (alsalik), being at the beginning of the path, when he reads these verses, understands from the first part that he has an independent will that can choose to be righteous or to deviate. He does not comprehend from the second part except what the language conveys. Thus, he strives diligently in the path of righteousness. When his experience matures through struggle and perseverance, he comes to a certain knowledge that he does not possess a will separate from Allah’s. The discourse regarding him then becomes, at that moment, Allah’s statement: “And you do not will except that Allah wills” (6:125). He realizes that Allah’s statement “Whoever desires to be righteous” (6:125) has become abrogated in his case after he has freed himself from the illusion of his mind. This is coupled with a certain understanding of the wisdom behind this noble verse.
Thus, the Quran has presented its meanings in duality: a meaning close at the level of the apparent, and a meaning distant at the level of the hidden. However, the people of opinion did not perceive this, so they made the verses that correspond to the illusions of the senses and the illusions of the minds their foundation, building their knowledge upon them. They strayed greatly and let others astray.
As for the Sufis, they have perceived this and knew that the illusions of the senses and the illusions of the mind must be eliminated through the methods of exalted worship, which lead them to the stages of certainty that are veiled by veils of darkness and veils of light.
