Determinism is Absolute Goodness.
With the entry of the mind into the scene, the law of retribution in the Shari‘ah emerged. It is a crude law when compared to the law of retribution in reality, but it becomes more refined and perfected as the mind strengthens and matures. This is a newly occurring law that reflects the newly created human will. Its purpose is to achieve full alignment with the ancient law, which reflects the eternal divine will. Yet, how far it is from achieving that alignment!
Human beings are determined from remoteness to closeness, from ignorance to knowledge, from multiplicity to unity, from evil to goodness, from limitation to infinity, and from restriction to freedom. Determinism, from its beginning, is mercy in the form of justice, and it is greater than justice - for "mercy is above justice." We have previously elaborated on this.
Determinism is freedom because it is based on the exercise of action with perceived freedom at a certain level. If the individual manages well, their freedom is increased, and their level rises through experience and practice. If they do not manage well, they bear the consequences of their mismanagement under a wise law that aims to enhance their ability to manage well. Thus, it is as if the human being is determined from determinism to free choice, for a person is free in what they can manage well and determined in what they cannot manage well, across the levels of thought, speech, and action.
There is a sacred saying (hadith qudusi) in which Allah, Exalted is He, spoke to His prophet Dawud: "O Dawud! You want, and I want, but only what I want will happen. If you surrender to what I want, I will suffice you in what you want. But if you do not surrender to what I want, I will exhaust you in what you want, and in the end, only what I want will happen." The matter was made clear from the outset when He said at the beginning of the hadith: "Only what I want will happen," indicating that the will of Allah is what prevails.
And when he said, 'If you surrender to what I want, I will suffice you in what you want,' it indicates that a person's will becomes effective only if it aligns with Allah’s will. If you ask, does a person have the ability to will what God wills? We say that a person only has the ability to will what Allah has granted him the power to will, for He, Almighty, says, 'And they do not encompass any of His knowledge except what He wills.'(2:255). He wills for us, at every moment, to encompass something of His knowledge, and this is indicated by His saying, 'Every day He is in a matter.' (55:29). His 'day' is not the twenty-four hours we know, but rather a unit of time of manifestation, which may be divided into parts as small as one-billionth of a second, so much so that time itself seems to transcend time. All of this occurs according to the capacity for reception that Allah has instilled in the place.
Since the limitation on the capacity for reception is subject only to the wisdom of the Absolute, it is a limitation within freedom and a constriction within vastness. Because of this absolute mercy, we have come to feel that we possess free will. This feeling imposes upon us the responsibility to manage our free will well. The proper management of free will is to will Allah and not will anything other than Him. If we do so with complete certainty - through thought, speech, and action - He grants us further freedom of will. If we mismanage our free will by willing something other than Him, He confiscates our freedom in a way that teaches us how to manage it better in the future.
The purpose of wisdom is to prepare the place to receive divine grace. All of this takes place with gentle care, such that our sense of self is not disturbed, nor is our existence erased. We do not choose ourselves over Allah except due to our ignorance, and ignorance is not an unchangeable affliction upon us. We move out of it into knowledge every moment. If you ask, "Why were we not created knowledgeable, thereby spared the evil of ignorance, the mismanagement of freedom, and the punishments that result from such mismanagement?"
We answer: Punishment is the price of freedom, because freedom entails responsibility, and responsibility is a personal commitment to bear the consequences of actions, whether they are right or wrong. Allah created beings who are knowledgeable and do not err, but they are not free. The lack of their freedom results in the incompleteness of their perfection. These are the angels, and Allah preferred humans over them due to humans' capacity for error and correction - or, more precisely, their ability to learn after ignorance. This is referenced in the statement of the Prophet, peace be upon him: "If you did not sin and seek forgiveness, Allah would bring a people who sin and seek forgiveness, and He would forgive them."
Thus, those who err and seek forgiveness are the focal point of Allah’s attention in existence, because through this process, they progress toward freedom - and ultimately absolute freedom, which is Allah’s grand attribute. Every constrained being is destined for freedom, and in that lies absolute freedom; every ignorant being is destined for knowledge, and in that lies absolute knowledge as well. Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He, says: "O mankind, indeed you are laboring toward your Lord with [great] exertion and will meet Him." (84:6) And He says: "Then did you think that We created you uselessly and that to Us you would not be returned?" (23:115) Meeting Allah and returning to Him is not achieved by traversing distances but rather by bringing attributes (sifat) closer to attributes.
For this reason, we have affirmed that determinism is absolute goodness. In its essence, it is goodness in the present and goodness in the final end. A time will come when ignorance will come to an end, by the grace of Allah through determinism. This was referenced by the Prophet, peace be upon him, when he said: "If you relied upon Allah as He should truly be relied upon, He would provide for you as He provides for the birds, and you would know knowledge after which there is no ignorance. But no one has known that!" They asked, "Not even you?" He replied, "Not even me!" They said, "We never thought that the prophets fall short in anything!" He said, "Allah is too majestic and too great for anyone to attain what is with Him!"
The less ignorance and the more knowledge, the less evil, and punishment is lifted from those who were punished in the area that falls under their knowledge. Punishment is not a fundamental principle in religion; rather, it is a temporary necessity accompanying immature development. It motivates progress toward higher stages until the individual learns what makes punishment unnecessary. At that point, its burden is lifted, and the self rises to its station of honor.
There is no self that will not emerge from the torment of the Fire and enter Paradise, once it has fulfilled its prescribed term in the Fire. This term may be long or short, depending on each self’s need for the experience. However, every measure has an appointed time, and every appointed time comes to an end. The greatest error is the belief of those who think that punishment in the Fire is eternal, for such a belief makes evil a fundamental principle of existence, and it is not so. If punishment were to become eternal, it would represent the vengeance of a vindictive self, devoid of wisdom - and Allah is far above such a notion, Exalted and Great is He.
