What is Fate and What is Destiny in Islam
Let me ask you a question.
When you woke up this morning, did you know you would be reading this article?
Most likely you did not. Most likely you made a random set of choices that led you to this page. In a small sense, those choices you made, brought forth your destiny which was reading this page.
However, it is your freewill to continue reading. You have the choice to stop reading now and do something else. Whatever you decide to do, will effect your destiny.
Many people, Muslims included, are confused about fate and destiny. They are not sure how much freewill they really have. They are not certain if they have the freedom to make their own choices, or if Allah has forced them upon a certain path.
I always believe the best way to tackle any problem is to start with the basics. So first, let’s lay some groundwork.
Here are a few things you should keep in mind.
- Allah is the creator of all things, including our actions.
- Belief in Allah’s power, knowledge and control of all things is one of the six articles of faith in Islam. This is called Qadar, loosely translated as Divine Destiny.
- A person has the freedom, the choice, to do as he/she wants.
- We have no control over the outcome of those choices.
- The outcome of these choices is our destiny. Only Allah knows what this destiny is.
Do You Control Your Destiny? Or Are You A Slave To Fate?
For example, say for instance you decide to go into business for yourself. You do all the necessary research. You consult others in the field. You draw up a sound business plan and line up multiple investors. You do everything possible to ensure that your business is a success.
Does any of this guarantee that your business will be successful? Not at all. The economy may falter. You may have miscalculated certain expenses. A natural disaster might wipe out everything you own. There are innumerable occurrences that could adversely effect your business.
It is vital to the Muslim’s belief that we understand this concept. After all, the word Muslim means “one who submits to the will of Allah.” By accepting Allah’s power, knowledge and control of our destiny, we learn to submit to what He has prescribed for us.
Belief in Qadar, divine destiny, prevents us from becoming too boastful or too despondent. When tragedy strikes us, we must understand that it is the will of Allah, for it to happen. That way, we learn to accept it with patience and humility rather than despair and frustration.
Of course, one may become saddened or upset about unfortunate events in their life. We are only human and it is natural to react a certain way with tragedy befalls us. However, the Muslim understands that no matter how difficult said tragedy is, it was within the will of Allah, and we cannot let it paralyze us.
And if something good happens to us, belief in Qadar will prevent us from becoming too boastful or arrogant. Many successful people believe that they have attained their wealth and status because they are inherently better than others. Or that they are smarter, wiser, stronger, or just more deserving of success than others.
The truth is, they have no control over their success. They may have made certain choices, but it is Allah that made those choices work out well for them. If they had control over their success, then they should be able to control every aspect of their life and never face any sort of adversity. But the reality is that even the most successful individuals face some hardships at some point in their life.
Man may choose a certain path. But it is Allah’s will that controls what destiny that path will lead them.
Fate And Destiny According To The Quran And Sunnah
It is also important to understand that Allah has knowledge over all things. Allah knows what will happen to us before we do. Allah knows the outcome of all of our decisions. And Allah has stated in His book, the Holy Quran, that everything that will happen throughout all creation was already written.
Surah Al-Hadid (The Chapter of Iron) verse 22 states:
“No calamity befalls on the earth or in yourselves but it is inscribed in the Book of Decrees (Al Lawh Al Mahfooz) before We bring it into existence. Verily, that is easy for Allah.”
And Prophet Mohammad (peace and blessings be upon him) has stated:
“Allah wrote down the decrees of creation fifty thousand years before He created the heavens and the earth.”
From these two statements, we understand that Allah has written all things in a Book of Decrees known in Arabic as Al-Lawh Al-Mahfooz, and that this was done 50000 years before He created the heavens and earth.
This does not mean that we are forced to walk upon a certain path, or that we have no freewill. This only means that Allah is already well aware of all actions that we will take, and the outcome of those actions.
At the same time, whatever we choose to do is governed by the will of Allah. If Allah does not will for something to take place, then it will not happen no matter how hard we try. And if He wills for something to happen, it will take place no matter what we do to stop it.
Muslims must believe in destiny, or more accurately, Divine Destiny (Qadar). But we should not believe in Fate. Fate is defined as: “an event (or a course of events) that will inevitably happen in the future.”
Nothing is inevitable as Allah has control over all things. And Allah controls the Divine Destiny. People who accept fate, or that certain things are inevitable, are fatalists, and tend to leave things to whim.
But a Muslim who believes in Qadar (Divine Destiny) will try to live according to the laws of Islam, pray to Allah for guidance when making decisions (Istikhaarah), and put their best effort forward in everything they do. Then, they leave the outcome of these actions to Allah and accept whatever He has decreed.
In summary, Muslim beliefs in Qadar (Divine Destiny) is made up of four things:
- Understanding that Allah’s knowledge encompasses all of creation and He knows everything that His creation will do. Even before they do.
- Believing that Allah has written all that has happen in the Book of Decrees (Al-Lawh Al-Mahfooz).
- Accepting that whatever Allah decrees will take place, and whatever He does not will, does not take place.
- Knowing that Allah has created all things, including the actions of His creation.
Accepting Allah’s Qadar (Divine Destiny) will lead us to a more satisfying and productive life, Inshallah.
And Allah knows best.
For further clarification of this subject, please read the next post in this series: Fate and Destiny Revisited
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I am an American Muslim. I was born Muslim, but both of my parents were born Christian. I grew up mostly in Brooklyn, New York. Let me first tell you that I love Islam. I have studied Islam in West Africa and Darul Uloom...
what does destiny means
vy nice artical.actually i was confused abt fate and disteny.this artical help me to sort out my problem.thanku for writing such a important issue of islam.
this article is very good and nice,it define and expalin the destiney very well. i have one question that how can a person’s destiney will be changed……….. now a days im really shocked,i have can’t pick the option whether to die or live,i can’t commit a suicide because it is cowardness and haram in islam,but unfortunately i also can’t live any more,its all over. this issue is about my love…… i lost every thing.
Thank you for reading the article. I’m sorry you’re going through such a desperate situation. I don’t know what you’re going through that causes you to feel this way, but whatever it is, I’m sure it’s difficult.
The best thing to do in your case, is to put your trust in Allah, and ask Allah to give you life as long as there is benefit in you staying alive. You may not know how important your life is, but Allah does. Perhaps there is somebody in your future whom you’ll save from a bad situation. Or perhaps there are people that know and love you who will still benefit from your life.
If it is better for you to return to Allah, then according to His wisdom, He may cause you to die in order to ease your pain. Whatever His decree is, please accept it, submit to it, and know that there is a wisdom behind it that you may never understand.
And Allah knows better.
Jazak-Allah-Khair for your efforts.
I came across this article while wondering and looking for an answer and think it might be useful to put out my question.
I am a strong believer in everything mentioned above, Alhamdulilah. Everything, including our actions, take place at Allah’s will, but when I am trying to achieve something and am praying to Allah for it but have difficulties in achieving it, at what point do I accept that it is Allah’s will and I am not going to pursue this anymore because this is not something what Allah has for me.
If I give up pursuing it then it would make me wonder if the thing that I am trying to achieve was actually there for me but would have just take an extra effort to obtain.
This thought keeps me going in loops, at one point I comfort myself by believing that this wasn’t for me, but at another time it makes me wonder if I could have done or can do more of an effort to achieve it.
Mashallah with your knowledge, would you like to share your opinion on this point.
Dear muslim brother, I need to ask a very important question regarding destiny. I started a business a while ago and I was doing reasonably well. One day I believed I received a sign from allah that on a certain date I would have a house on an exclusive road in my area. I said to myself all I had to do was keep on working and on that date, it is allah’s promise you will have that house. Unfortunately, I met this female half way through my business plan and I did some haram things with her. I believe that this is the reason why allah has not given me this house by that date. I have been killing myself saying why I saw her etc etc. But could you please tell me the reason I didn’t get that house was because I saw this girl or was it just a desire I had and not allah’s promise. I believe I will inshaallah be able to get the house within the next few years. It’s just that I wanted it now and what happened over the last year in my business, I could have done it had I gone with the right direction of the market.
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Bismillah,ir-Rahman,ir-Rahim.
Ashahadu An Laa illaaha illal llahu
Wa Ash Hadu Anna Muhammadan Abdu Hu Wa Rasooluhu
”I bear witness that there is no deity but Allah
who is without partner, and I bear witness that Muhammad (Peace be upon Him) is the Rasool.”
“O Allah, Shower Your Peace come upon Muhammad and the family of Muhammad, as you have brought peace to Ibrahim and his family. Truly, You are Praiseworthy and Glorious. O Allah, Shower your blessing upon Muhammad and the family of Muhammad, as you have blessed Ibrahim and his family. Truly, You are Praiseworthy and Glorious”.
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Islam, As-Salaam Alaikum!
My Name is Khalid U.Ibrahim. I am in need of your (Du’a) Prayers for ALLAH’s Help and Protection. (Ya ALLAH!) OALLAH! I Beg of you to Bestow on us (the Believing Muslims) a Home, a Home of Safety, Security and Peace in this World Life, Out of the Reach of the Dajjal and his army, and also Grant us a Home of Safety,Security and Peace in the Life Hereafter,Out of the Reach of the Fires of Hell!.(Ya ALLAH!) OALLAH! I Beg of you to Increase our Faith and Devotion, and to Bless us with Peace in our Hearts and Souls.(Ya ALLAH!) Please Forgive All The Believing Muslims,(Ya ALLAH!) Please grant All the Believing Muslims the Best in this world Life and the Best in Hereafter, and(Ya ALLAH!) Please Protect us(the Believing Muslims) from own Nafs, and(Ya ALLAH!) Please Protect All the Believing Muslims from the hands of the Dajjal and his army.] {No One in this World care!} (Ya ALLAH!) OALLAH! I Beg of you for the means to do good, and to avoid evil, and Bless us to Love the poor, and I beseech you forgive us(the Believing Muslims) and have mercy on us. And When you subject the people of theWorld to trial, Protect us from being affected by it.(Ya ALLAH!) OALLAH! I Beg of you, your Love and Protection,and the Love of those who Love you, and Grant us the Love of all such actions that will bring us closer to you, with our Love and Devotion to you.(Ya ALLAH!) OALLAH! I thank you for all your Mercy and Protection that you have bestowed on us, and all that you have given us in these trouble times that we are facing,(Al-Hamdolillah!).
Salam !
If God knows HOW and WHEN we will die then why is it that if someone kills me he/she will go to Hell ?
So God must’ve known that that person will kill me, because God himself says that nothing can be done in this world without my permision or without God knowing about it because God knows and controls Everything.
Then God should show the killer the right path or stop him from doing such act …. if God says we are here on a test then why would the killer be thrown in Hell because without God’s permision a single leaf cannot move that means God knew about this so why should he/she be punished for this crime because then God must’ve planned this for him/her as well the day he/she was born !
Please read sura An-Nahl, I understand that Allah has given us free will to choose and to be accountable for our actions. Example number one: Adam and eve, Allah tough them the divine law and when tempted they disapointed them selves. But Allah showed mercy on them and the rest of creation by his mercy and favors. Allah gave Adam and Eve free will to choose. Allah doesn’t make us do bad, this is a misconseption due to the fact that Allah is all powerful and all knowing that he knows what we are capable of even before we do any action. Allah makes it clear in the Quran that what ever bad comes to us is by our own doing and what ever good comes is by his mercy………..So we should never make the mistake of blaming Allah for the bad that we do or the bad that happens to us, and we should remember his Mercy us, for he is all forgiving on those who come to him free willingly…….Subhana Allah
Jazakallah Khair and Ameen. May Allah bless you also.
Wa Iyyak Salam.
Please continue to follow this series. It is a very important subject and I go into much further depth in this article and those that follow.
I am not some super wise dude but.
God knew that the person was going to kill you.
The Right path must have been shown to the killer but the killer rejected the path.
God knows that the person may do a bad thing and will make him feel that thing is wrong but if he rejects that its on him.
God authorized your death for a reason that only he knows (sometimes its called El 3ebra = sign to others )
The guy will go to hell cause he didn’t have a valid reason to kill you.
God doesn’t give you the permission to do bad things its you who permits that.
Interesting comments Tamer. For the most part, you are right. God does what He does for reasons He only knows.
i m still confused. if God knows what we are going to do , why doesnt He make us do good only? why bad? why do we have to go to hell if it was destined any way??
pls. enlighten me. i love Allah but i am confused as to why the human has to be accountable IF it was destined ANYWAY. Jazakhaal khair
Pls. leave a commment on this page.
Hello Ellen,
Yes, I know this subject can be confusing. I’ll give you a full response later today, Inshallah.
Thanks to u and may Allah bless u abundantly. im impressed.
Jazakallah Khair and Ameen. May Allah bless you also.
In all religions that believe in Allah(God) it is written that the Almighty has given us free will. In doing so life becomes about choices we make on our journey. Allah
(God) knows how our life is written but each chapter is in our own hands until the end. What we have to write with is “Faith”. The stronger our beliefs in what the Quran and Bible has taught the easier it will be to accept the outcome. You cannot fear change or stop trying. Destiny is what you make it. So make it wisely knowing Allah(God) is by your side.
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You wankers have not answered my question!
Not really the best way to start a conversation Ami Ti Amake Ballabashee.
Please state your question, and I’ll do my best to answer it.
I liked the article there is thin line b/w destiny and fate.
Thank you for commenting Neelofar. In Islam, we really only believe in destiny. Fate, as it is understood in English, is like an external power (not God) that controls our lives and we’re just slaves to it.
But you are right…even in the English understanding, there is a slim difference between the two.
And Allah knows best.
Christian is what you really need to believe in. GOD, the one who created you.
Hello Caleb,
Thank you for visiting Islamic Learning Materials.
I don’t have the time to give you a full, head-on answer. Furthermore, your comment is a little unclear (“Christian is what you really need to believe in.” What the heck does that mean?).
It seems as if you’re saying the Muslims on this blog should be Christian and that we should believe in God.
This displays a little ignorance on your part as Muslims DO believe in God. We just don’t believe He can be 3 different beings (father, son, holy ghost) all at the same time.
We also don’t believe God is a man (which Jesus, peace be upon him, was). We just can’t believe that God came out of a woman’s birth canal. We can’t believe that God defecated, urinated, and has DNA (which Jesus being human must have had).
I mean, if Jesus was God, that would mean that if archaeologists found some of his DNA, they could clone God. How crazy would that be? (Sounds like the makings of a good summer blockbuster, though).
Look Caleb, you’re more than welcome to visit ILM as much as you’d like. If you want to preach your beliefs, I’ll let you do that to a certain extent but be ready to defend them vigorously.
Because, I’m not gonna let you off easy.
Bro,
God is the (father, holly ghost, and son).
I respect your beliefes.
But all I’m trying to say is when judgment day comes and you all were wrong.
What are you going to say then….?
Who do you think created the earth? A man?
Well that’s pathetic.
That’s what I’m saying…you don’t understand Islam.
YOU are the one who believes a man created the earth because YOU believe God was a man (Jesus).
Muslims don’t believe anything like that.
You are at a serious disadvantage in this discussion because I know Christianity and you obviously don’t know anything about Islam. If you think Muslims believe a man created the earth, then you are starting off on the wrong foot.
Before going any further, I highly suggest you learn more about Islam. Whether you believe in Islam or not is irrelevant at this point; what’s important is that you at least understand what Islam is because right now you sound really uninformed.
Check out this link on Islamic monotheism. It’s a little technical but hopefully it’s not above your head. If it is, I have a free audio called “Islam Simplified” that explains the basics of Islam. If you want to learn about Islam so that we can have an informed discussion, I’ll be happy to email it to you for free.
I am going through a very difficult and confusing situation. I am 32 sudanese Muslim women and would like to marry a muslim revert, however, my family are totally against this as he is not sudanese.
I do understand that my life is written and if Allah wills me to marry this man then that will happen. What I’m finding it hard to understand is what i do in the process. Will Allah just bring this man to me? I keep talking to my older brothers (my guardians as my dad has passsed away) and they keep telling me to stop going on and trust in Allah.
I can’t understand this please can you help me understand their point of view as it is making me extremley frustrated. I am 32 already and I’m worried that i will never get married and worse still will not be able to have children. They have never brought a suitor to me and I do not feel they even have he interest to do so.
Do you think i will be forgiven if i went out and got married against their will?
Please help
Thank you in advance
As-Salaamu alaikum Sr. Aida,
Unfortunately, this is the case with many Muslims these days. They are too concerned about tribalism and nationalism and forget about the most important quality for all Muslims and that is Islam and tawheed.
I’m sure your parents want the best for you but they if what you’ve told me is the complete story, then they are not making this judgement based on Islamic principles, but instead on nationalistic principles which are from the Shaytan.
Nationalism and tribalism and racism has done nothing but harm the Muslim world. We can see the tragedy in Somalia where everyone speaks the same language and practices the same faith. Yet they are killing each other because they are in different tribes.
I encourage you to talk to your parents and have other knowledgeable Muslims talk to them also.
I am reluctant to encourage you to disobey your wali (guardian) whom I presume is your father. Instead talk to him and bring him proof that what he is doing is evil and he is preventing you from what may be good.
But be careful. I do not know your situation clearly and it may be that your father sees something in this man that is not good and it may not just be nationalism. So I encourage you to talk to your family and really try to understand what they have against this man.
Put your trust in Allah and make dua to Him. Ask Him for guidance and seek the help of others in your area who are knowledgeable and familiar with the situation.
Thank you for your reply.
I do agree with you, it is awful that it still exists in this day and age especially when the quran states not to discriminate against race. I also really would like to avoid upsetting my family but their beliefs are going against everything I understand about Islam.
My dad passed away when I was young so my oldest brother would be my wali. When this man called my brother to discuss marriage my brothers response was “i am not intersted , please do not call me again” without knowing a single thing about him. Other family members have met him including my mother and 2nd eldest brother that went to the mosque with him and had a chat. Not one person has come back to me and said anything bad about him. They are all scared to go against my oldest brother so will not support this marriage unless my older brother allows it. My personally feeling is that he is not fit to be my wali as he is not following the words of Allah. For this reason can i dis obey?
What I need to understand is if it’s my destiny to marry him should I sit back and do nothing? Is there any need to get a sheikh to speak to my oldest brother? Would it just work out somehow or does Allah give us the gift of a sane mind to be proactive and fight for what is right?
Caleb, r u out of your Minds ???
No, he’s not crazy. That would give him an excuse. He’s just immature.
Alhamdulillah for the delete button, eh Caleb?