What is Determinism?
The first thing to emphasize is that Allah does not lead people to sin but rather guides them to what is right. Allah says on behalf of Hud: “Indeed, I have relied upon Allah. My Lord and your Lord. There is no creature but that He holds its forelock. Indeed, my Lord is on a straight path” (11:6). This means that Allah guides every creature on the straight path, each being guided both in its state and its destiny, as long as it obeys Allah. Nothing in existence escapes this obedience. However, Allah, the Blessed and Exalted, wants the obedient to be aware of this obedience. Thus, He has established a clear line between guidance and misguidance - those below it are misguided, and those above it are guided. Here, the consideration of faith and disbelief comes into play.
The difference between faith and disbelief is not a difference of kind but rather a difference in degree. A believer knows more than a disbeliever - or rather, the believer obeys Allah while being aware of it, and the disbeliever obeys Allah while being ignorant of it. Allah, the Exalted, says: “Indeed, Allah knows whatever you associate with Him, and He is the Almighty, the Wise” (4:116). He knows this, but they do not know it, and He wants them to know. “Are those who know equal to those who do not know?” (39:9).
Allah’s will is not disobeyed, but Allah wants to transfer creation from obedience to what He wills, to obedience to what He is pleased with. For He, Glorified and Exalted, willed something that He did not find pleasing. He, the Exalted, says: “Indeed, if you disbelieve, indeed, Allah is Free from need of you. And if you should be believers, then indeed, Allah is Affectionate and Merciful” (47:38). It is as if He says, if you disbelieve, you have not disbelieved against Allah’s might, but rather, you have disbelieved in His will, but He does not accept from you what He has willed for you.
Contentment (rida) is the highest point of will (irada), or it is the pinnacle of a pyramid with its base being will. Will exists at the level of duality, and contentment exists at the level of individuality. In will, disbelief and faith enter, but in contentment, only faith enters.
The formative matter is above will. Its peak is contentment and its base is will, forming a complete pyramid. The elaboration of this comes at the end of the Surat Yasin, as He, the Most Glorious of speakers, says: “His command, when He intends a thing, is only that He says to it, ‘Be,’ and it is” (36:82). The legislative matter represents the pinnacle of the formative command, where its base is will. When Allah says: “And when We intend to destroy a village, We command its affluent to forsake it. But they defiantly disobey in the land, so We seized them for their sins and destroyed them completely” (7:82), He means the formative command at the level of its pyramid’s base, which is will. When He says: “And when they commit an immorality, they say, ‘We found our fathers doing it, and Allah has ordered us to do it.’ Say, ‘Allah does not order immorality. Do you say about Allah that which you do not know?’” (7:83), He means the legislative command.
The meaning of “Indeed, Allah does not order immorality” (7:83) is that Allah does not send messengers and support them with miracles, and then their laws advocate immorality. “It is not for any human being that Allah should give him the Scripture and authority and prophethood, and then he would say to the people, ‘Be servants to me rather than to Allah,’ but [instead], be pious, for you were taught the Scripture and wisdom” (6:121). “But be devoted to the Lord because of your teaching of the Scripture and your studying of it. And He would never command you to take the angels and the prophets as lords. Would He command you to disbelief after you have submitted as Muslims?” (3:79-87).
The legislative command is a call to take people from Allah’s will to His contentment. For this reason, He sent messengers and revealed scriptures, saying in them: “Indeed, Allah commands justice and the doing of good, and giving to relatives; and forbids immorality, and bad conduct, and oppression. He admonishes you that perhaps you will be reminded” (16:90).
Although the legislative command is a unity when compared to the will, upon close examination, it also has a pyramidal shape. Its base is the collective Sharia, and its peak is the individual Sharia. The peak of this pyramid of the legislative command serves as the base for the pyramid of the creational command, the peak of which is with Allah, ‘where’ there is no ‘where’. To this fine, exceedingly delicate peak, the reference is in His saying, “Indeed, all things We created with predestination. And Our command is but one, as the twinkling of an eye.” (54:49-50)
Thus, the pyramid of beings appears clearly. Its pinnacle is the first descent to the level of the name (al-ism), which is the level of individual legislation (Sharia fardiyah), and its base is the final descent to the rank of action, which is the rank of multiplicity in living beings and elements. The lowest of these is smoke, which is water vapor from which things and living beings are created. He, the Exalted, said: “Then He directed Himself to the heaven while it was smoke and said to it and to the earth, ‘Come willingly or by compulsion.’ They said, ‘We have come willingly.’ And He completed them as seven heavens in two days and inspired in each heaven its command; and We adorned the nearest heaven with lamps and as protection. That is the determination of the Exalted in Might, the Knowing.” (41:11-12)
Even closer than that to the base of the pyramid of creation is His saying about this smoke: “Have those who disbelieved not considered that the heavens and the earth were a joined entity, and We separated them and made from water every living thing? Then will they not believe?” (21:30)
When the peak of this pyramid was with God, its base was far from Him - not in terms of physical distance, but in terms of degree. The peak of the pyramid of creation, representing the level of individual law, exists in the realm of the divine (Malakut). The base of the pyramid exists in the physical realm (Mulk). The realm of Malakut dominates the realm of Mulk, such that the latter serves as a mere shadow of the former. The realm of Mulk is the realm of the visible, while the realm of Malakut is the realm of the unseen, or in other words, the realm of Mulk is the sensory world, characterized by multiplicity, whereas the realm of Malakut is the world of meanings, characterized by unity. This does not mean that the Malakut realm lacks tangible aspects; rather, its tangibility is so subtle that it can only be perceived by the seventh sense.
The Sultan of the Lovers, Ibn al-Farid (a Sufi poet), meant this delicate subtlety when he said: “And the subtlety of vessels in reality follows the subtlety of meanings, and meanings are nourished by it.” This is because every meaning has a perceptible form, and every reality has a corresponding Sharia. Thus, every meaning or reality takes on a pyramidal shape, with a pinnacle and a base. The finer the pinnacle, the finer the base correspondingly. Or, if you prefer, the more subtle the meaning, the more refined the perception.
Allah, the Blessed and Exalted, says: “Exalted is He in whose hand is the kingdom of all things, and to Him you will be returned” (57:23). The kingdom of all things is its individuality. “And to Him you will be returned” confirms this understanding because returning to Allah is bringing the attributes of the servant closer to the attributes of the Lord. It is as though creation is journeying toward its individuality through its collectiveness, from multiplicity within unity, by virtue of Tawhid (monotheism).
He, the Exalted, says: “And (I swear) by the fig, and the olive, and Mount Sinai, and this safe house, We have certainly created man in the best of stature; Then We returned him to the lowest of the low, Except for those who believe and do righteous deeds, for they will have a reward uninterrupted. So, what yet causes you to deny the religion? Is not Allah the most just of judges?” (95:1-8).
We have mentioned that the apparent meaning of the Qur'an pertains to the signs of the horizons, while its hidden meaning pertains to the signs of the human self. Honor, in the sight of Allah, is for humans, not for the heavens or the earth. Indeed, the ant is more honored by Allah than the sun, for the ant has entered the cycle of life and death, a distinction not granted to the sun, even though it yearns for it and strives toward it with great effort. For this reason, we will not discuss the apparent meaning of these verses; whoever seeks it may find it in any of the books of interpretation of the Qur'an, as it is readily available.
Allah swore by Himself when He swore by the powers of the human self: “O mankind, fear your Lord, who created you from one self and created from it its mate and dispersed from both of them many men and women. And fear Allah, through whom you ask one another, and the wombs. Indeed, Allah is ever, over you, an Observer.” (4:1) This one self from which we were created is none other than His own self, blessed and exalted is He.
“The fig” symbolizes the self (nafs), and “the olive” symbolizes the spirit (ruh), and “Mount Sinai” symbolizes the mind (aql), and “this secure city” symbolizes the heart (qalb). We have previously mentioned that the mind is the result of the insemination of the self and the spirit. Here, we say that the mind is the vanguard of the heart and its guide to knowledge. It is like a blind man's cane, with which he feels his way, or, if you prefer, you may say that the mind serves the heart in the same way that the senses serve it.
When the mind strengthens, matures, and begins to receive its perceptions from all the senses at every moment, it becomes the anticipated sixth sense. This is because life began with a single sense, then advanced - over immense spans of time - to the second sense, then the third, then the fourth, and then the fifth. It continues on its path toward the sixth sense and then the seventh sense, which marks the end of the journey. Beyond that, progress will occur not through an increase in the number of senses but through the development and refinement of these seven senses.
The sixth sense, then, is the mind when it matures and becomes capable of tasting, smelling, touching, seeing, and hearing everything, all at once and in a single moment. When the mind reaches this level, it recognizes its own limits and understands that its place is behind the heart (qalb), not in front of it. It hears, and tries to obey, the words of the knower Aljunayd: “And place as your leader one whom you once led.” However, obeying this command is among the most difficult things for the mind, and it only happens a tick after a tick and at the peak of perfected spiritual striving. Even then, the time spent in this state is brief, for at this point comes the address from the “Khidr of the heart” to the “Moses of the mind”: “Indeed, you will never be able to have patience with me.” (18:67)
But this brief moment, which every individual's “Moses” can endure with his “Khidr”, weighs as heavily as eternity itself, for it exists outside of time. It is the station of “The sight did not swerve, nor did it transgress” (53:17), and in it, the diligent worshiper beholds the One who is not contained by time.
This is the station of direct witnessing the Supreme Being of the self, with all intermediaries fell. In that moment, the heart attains the level of the seventh sense, and in this state, the diligent worshiper becomes singular (witr).
Then, the mind will soon realize its weakness, lose awareness of its own limits, and advance ahead of the heart. At that point, the worshiper becomes dual, and they are veiled by the lights of the mind from witnessing the Supreme Being. He only witness its manifestations in the stage of the name, or the stage of the attribute, or the stage of the act - the lowest of which is the stage of the unity of the doer.
The diligent worshiper in the stages of being veiled by the light is one who carries hidden polytheism (shirk khafi). Such a person adheres to an individual shari‘a, and thus, he remains within his realm of malakut. His saying, Exalted is He, in the previous verses: “Indeed, We created man in the best of stature” (95:4) is a reference to his creation in the realm of the Malakut (the spiritual kingdom), which is the apex of the pyramid of creation in the world of command (alam al-amr). And His saying: “Then We returned him to the lowest of the low” (95:5) is a reference to his creation in the realm of the Mulk (the physical dominion), which is the base of the pyramid of creation in the world of creation. “Unquestionably, His is the creation and the command” (7:54). The realm of creation is also what He referred to in His saying: “Indeed, all things We created with predestination. And Our command is but one, like a glance of the eye” (54:49-50). The story of creation in the best of stature, followed by the return to the lowest of the low, is narrated through these verses.
“When your Lord said to the angels, ‘Indeed, I will make upon the earth a successive authority.’ They said, ‘Will You place upon it one who causes corruption therein and sheds blood, while we declare Your praise and sanctify You?’ He said, ‘Indeed, I know that which you do not know.’
And He taught Adam the names - all of them. Then He showed them to the angels and said, ‘Inform Me of the names of these, if you are truthful.’
They said, ‘Exalted are You; we have no knowledge except what You have taught us. Indeed, it is You who is the Knowing, the Wise.’ He said, ‘O Adam, inform them of their names.’ And when he had informed them of their names, He said, ‘Did I not tell you that I know the unseen [aspects] of the heavens and the earth? And I know what you reveal and what you have concealed.’ And [mention] when We said to the angels, ‘Prostrate before Adam’; so they prostrated, except for Iblis. He refused and was arrogant and became of the disbelievers. And We said, ‘O Adam, dwell, you and your wife, in Paradise and eat therefrom in [ease and] abundance from wherever you will. But do not approach this tree, lest you be among the wrongdoers.’ But Satan caused them to slip out of it and removed them from that [condition] in which they had been. And We said, ‘Go down, [all of you], as enemies to one another, and you will have upon the earth a place of settlement and provision for a time.’ Then Adam received from his Lord words, and He accepted his repentance. Indeed, it is He who is the Accepting of Repentance, the Merciful. We said, ‘Go down from it, all of you. And when guidance comes to you from Me, whoever follows My guidance - there will be no fear concerning them, nor will they grieve.
But those who disbelieve and deny Our signs - those will be companions of the Fire; they will abide therein eternally.’” (2:30-39)
Adam was created in the realm of command, perfect, knowledgeable, and free. His freedom was a gift for which he did not pay a price. So, God tested him to see how he would handle it, saying: “O Adam, dwell, you and your wife, in Paradise and eat therefrom in [ease and] abundance from wherever you will. But do not approach this tree, lest you be among the wrongdoers.” (2:35)
The tree he was forbidden from was, inwardly, his own self (nafs), and outwardly, his wife. He did not manage his freedom well by prioritizing God's command over his own desires. Instead, he chose himself over his Lord, disobeyed His command, and had intercourse with his wife.
As a result, his freedom was revoked, for he failed to handle it wisely. He was sent down to face the consequences of his disobedience and to begin reclaiming his freedom by paying its price, so it would become precious to him, and he would not squander it again. For freedom that is not paid for is not valued, nor is it defended.
Exalted is He, who warns His beloved Muhammad about Adam’s condition: “So exalted is Allah, the Sovereign, the Truth. And, do not hasten with [recitation of] the Qur'an before its revelation is completed to you, and say, ‘My Lord, increase me in knowledge.’ And We had already taken a promise from Adam before, but he forgot; and We found not in him determination.” (20:114-115) “And We had already taken a promise from Adam” means that We made a covenant with him that he would manage his freedom well by always choosing Allah. “But he forgot, and We found not in him determination” - he forgot Our covenant and lacked the resolve to fulfill the obligations of freedom. He succumbed to the temptation of his wife and the desires of his self (nafs), misusing his freedom, so We revoked it. “And thus do We deal with the criminals.” (77:18)
When Adam disobeyed his Lord due to forgetfulness and weakness to align his desires, Iblis (Satan) deliberately disobeyed and became arrogant. Allah recounted to us his experience:
“When your Lord said to the angels, ‘Indeed, I am creating a human being from clay. So when I have proportioned him and breathed into him of My spirit, then fall down to him in prostration.’ So the angels prostrated - all of them entirely - except Iblis; he was arrogant and became of the disbelievers. Allah said, ‘O Iblis, what prevented you from prostrating to that which I created with My hands? Were you arrogant, or were you among the haughty?’ He said, ‘I am better than him. You created me from fire and created him from clay.’ Allah said, ‘Then get out of it, for indeed, you are expelled. And indeed, upon you is My curse until the Day of Recompense.’ He said, ‘My Lord, then reprieve me until the Day they are resurrected.’ Allah said, ‘So indeed, you are of those reprieved until the Day of the time well-known.’ He said, ‘By Your might, I will surely mislead them all except, among them, Your chosen servants.’ Allah said, ‘The truth [is My oath], and the truth I say - that I will surely fill Hell with you and those of them that follow you, all together.’” (38:71-85)
Iblis was a worshiper, but he was arrogant, and thus he was veiled by his self from his Lord, rendering his worship of no benefit to him. Iblis was also knowledgeable, but his knowledge was only outward knowledge, not accompanied by inner knowledge. For this reason, he was neither pious nor wise. He swears by the might of Allah, saying: “By Your might, I will surely mislead them all” (38:82), yet he arrogantly refuses to obey Allah.
And because he lacked piety, he did not think to seek forgiveness when he sinned. Instead, he persisted in his disobedience and sought respite to find an opportunity to lead others astray, saying: “My Lord, then reprieve me until the Day they are resurrected” (15:36). When Allah said, “So indeed, you are of those reprieved until the Day of the time well-known” (38:80-81), Iblis responded: “By Your might, I will surely mislead them all, except Your chosen servants among them” (38:82-83).
The final verse among His signs of knowledge is that He knew that the sincere servants of Allah hold no power over Him, but His knowledge, as we have said, is apparent without piety in the inner.
As for Adam and Eve, they said: “Our Lord, we have wronged ourselves, and if You do not forgive us and have mercy upon us, we will surely be among the losers.” (7:23) Whatever the matter may be, they all disobeyed the command of their Lord, and through sinning, they became harsh and dense, not harmonized with that gentle environment. Thus, their heavy weight descended from the ladder of ascension to the pinnacle, which is referred to in the verses: “By the fig”. Their order in descent was Iblis first, followed by Eve, then Adam.
In their new environment, they were surrounded by evils from every side. However, it was not long before they adapted and forgot much of the perfection they had once experienced - except for a little. Allah answered the prayer of Iblis, granting him respite until the Day they are resurrected. So he remained in the “lowest of the low”, without any ascension, because he did not seek ascension; he only sought respite.
Allah also answered the prayer of Adam and Eve, so they did not remain in the “lowest of the low” for long - only until forgiveness and mercy overtook them, which they had sought at the moment of their disobedience to their Lord’s command. “Indeed, the mercy of Allah is near to the doers of good.” (7:56)
One might think, when reading the preceding verses of Surah “By the Fig”, specifically His saying, “Except those who believe and do righteous deeds, for they will have a reward uninterrupted” (95:6), that the exception here means they were not returned to the “lowest of the low.” This is a mistake. The truth is that this verse and the one before it conveys the same meaning as His saying: “And there is none of you except he will come to it. This is a decree that your Lord has made inevitable. Then We will save those who feared Allah and leave the wrongdoers within it, kneeling.” (19:71-72). Thus, Adam and Eve were saved from the “lowest of the low”, and their ascension began through forgiveness and mercy, while Iblis was left as he was, for he did not consider change.
His saying: “So what yet causes you to deny the Recompense?” (95:7) Recompense (al-din) refers to reward, exchange, and retribution. It alludes to the law of retribution, which we have said is the foundation upon which Islam is built - both in its reality and its law. This reference aims to guide us to understand that humanity was returned from the station of “the best of stature” to the depth of “the lowest of the low” by the rule of the law of retribution, as a just and appropriate recompense.
His saying: “Is not Allah the most just of judges?” (95:8) is an affirmation of the law of retribution and a reminder of the wisdom inherent within it.
