Library Islam Faith and Reason Brief Answer
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Brief Answer
Allah (awj) has willed the guidance of all His creatures. For, after taking all the [relevant] Qur`anic verses into consideration, the following points can be deduced:
1. Divine guidance is divided into existential (takwini) and legislative (tashri’i) guidance. Existential guidance is the all-encompassing guidance that embraces the entire creation. Allah (awj) has put all creatures in motion by ingraining in their nature their inclination for seeking perfection and reaching their ultimate goal. The legislative guidance, which is more specific, is exclusive to the bearers of intellect and thought and pertains to religious issues, such as rightful doctrines and the Divine oughts and ought-nots. The prophets and their infallible successors serve as the conduit for this latter guidance. It is this guidance that is an extra favour bestowed upon mankind, and hence they enjoy both types of guidance.
2. There are many verses in the Qur`an which confirm the free will of the human being, such as, “Indeed We have guided him to the way, be he grateful or ungrateful.” This ability to choose is a measure of existential guidance from Allah (awj), for the human being cannot himself be the source of his free will as it would entail the problem of circularity or infinite regress.
3. The entire creation is founded on a framework of causality, and the Divine norm (sunnat Allah) requires that all affairs be guided through the causal matrix. In this vein, He has provided the means of guidance for all human beings, by which they can attain the ultimate goal of their existence. So although the human being has been blessed by existential guidance, at the same time he is a free being and can choose to take the path of Divine guidance—thereby preparing in himself the grounds for further guidance—or he could choose to take the opposite direction, which leads to disbelief and oppression. What the verse in question intends is that if Allah (awj) had wished, He could have created the human being without free will. But Allah (awj) chose to mould the human being as a volitional creature by the means of His existential and legislative guidance so that he would be responsible for his actions and distinguish truth from falsehood. It is in line with the same Divine norm that if the human being embarks on the path of oppression and disbelief, consequently he would be deprived of Divine guidance. But on the other hand, by choosing to follow the path of truth, the human being earns the blessing of further guidance.
