Eschatological beliefs + teaching Flashcards
What is al-Qadr?
Predestination: everything that happens in the world is planned by Allah (Sunni belief)
What is sifat?
Allah’s foreknowledge of all things, including those that have not happened yet.
What do Muslims believe Allah wrote before the creation of anything else?
The sifat in al-Lawh al-Mahfooz, or the Preserved Tablet. No change can take place to what is written unless Allah wills it.
What do Muslims believe about how things happen?
Nothing happens unless it is the will of Allah. A Muslim is taught to accept all things as the will of Allah.
What do the Jabrites (Muslim schools of thought) believe about human actions?
That all human actions are determined by Allah and that humans have no free will at all.
What issue does the Jabrites’ belief bring about?
If Allah is responsible for al human actions, then he is also responsible for evil and suffering, so how can he be merciful and benevolent?
What other issue does that belief bring about?
They believe that on the Day of Resurrection at the end of the world, Allah will judge humans on their actions. Humans could only be fairly judged on their actions if they had responsibility for them, but how does this tie in with the idea that everything is planned by Allah?
What did the Mutazilites believe?
That human free will meant there could be no predestination. They believed that on the Day of Judgement, each person would be judged on the actions they had taken with their free will. Each person’s fate would be determined by Allah’s divine justice, which was absolute so there could be no mercy.
What do Shi’a Muslims believe?
They accept the teachings of the Mutazilites. Believe that Allah may choose to change anything he wills at any time.
What example of Allah changing anything he wills at any time is there?
Surah 7:142 - Allah changes the period that Musa worships from 30 nights to 40 nights before he receives the Torah.
Who else believes that human choices and actions can cause changes?
Shi’ites (Surah 13:11)
What is Asharism?
Asharism tried to find a Middle way between believing in free will and believing in predestination.
What allowed the ashar’ites to believe in both free will and predestination?
Allah created everything, including human actions; humans could ‘acquire’ the act and make a choice between the right course of action and the wrong one. This allowed them to believe in both free will and predestination.
What else did the ashar’ites believe?
That Allah could use divine intercession and show mercy to remove sinners from hell.
What does the Sunni teaching on al-Qadr say?
That 120 days after conception, each baby in the womb receives its soul.
