Destined to Live

“Sahl bin Saad (ra) narrated that prophet Muhammad (SAWS) said “some people ( in Allah's preordained destiny) even though are people of heaven will perform acts as though they are people of hell and some who are people of hell will perform acts of the people of heaven. It is the acts/deeds that are performed at the end or nearest to death which will be the decisive factor ."

Life is as it flows. One wonders what life is and how it moves through the time frame  and in this flow fate is something confusing and interpreted. Fate or destiny and its relation to morals and values is a study of its own and this is one of the theories of Islam. Preordained destiny or Qadr is part of Islamic belief but how it is manifested is a question that makes thinkers and philosophers ponder .

As this hadith states, people are destined for heaven or hell but their actions may be different. The weight age values more. When it is said that one’s destiny is already decided then why are actions important would be a question but why not think of it as part of destiny.In other words the actions performed are as the destiny  has it and the actions are part of the destiny. But since this hadith mentions about the concept of changing destiny the actions can help in changing ones destiny. So how or what destiny is and how is it related to man is intriguing.

To explain the above notion this hadith narrated by Ali (ra) can be read. 

Ali (ra) narrated that prophet Muhammad (SAWS) said that there is no one among you whose position in hell or heaven has not been decided or written already. The Sahabas (comrades) asked “oh messenger of Allah if so then why not live as per the destiny and withhold from doing any Amal(good deeds) . “ The Prophet replied “You perform the deeds and whatever is written in one’s destiny it will be made easier to them. The victorious will be allowed to perform good deeds and the losers will be allowed to perform bad deeds.” Then the prophet recited Surah 92 Verses 5 to 10:

As for him who gave out his wealth for Allah’s sake and abstained from disobeying and affirmed the truth of goodness we shall facilitate for him the way to bliss. As for him who was a miser and behaved with aversion and denied the truth of goodness we shall facilitate for him the way of hardship

As the hadith mentioned above portrays, life is something which is in between what is decided and what is to be decided. It is action and plan on the same coordinate. A relative plasma where the happening and the should be happening coincides giving one view called “lifespan”. It is really difficult to think of the present and the future together but this is indeed known as destiny, an amalgam of the present and the future.

One famous hadith known to most, talks about tying the camel to the pole and then praying for it to not go loose which depicts the present in future. What may happen might have been decided but we take precautions since we cannot think in two dimensions. Reality is running in two dimensions. The reason why one cannot decide on his future is because of destiny (qadr) but the zeal to work towards a dream or goal comes from action. When these go hand in hand it creates hi-s-tory.

 This is similar to the wave and particular nature of matter. At a time only one is prominent or existing to vision. Destiny and action are the same and it compliments each other or is transparent and dissolves in one another. Maybe it is one and the same but different manifestations.

“The cross-over of two frames result in dimensional collision and life is one such phenomenon.”





ref: 
Saheeh Bukhari wa muslim(muthafaqqun alaih):samyuktha paribasha by Ibrahim Puthoor faisy 
  -kitab ul jihad,kitab ul maqasi
  -kitab ul iman,kitab ul qadr

The Holy Quran (Surah 92 Verse5-10)

Crash Realisation

The world is so unpredictable and unknown to us that we are actually in a murky four dimensional atmosphere that does not tell us anything of what it is or what we are. sometimes life is like that. this thought just sprung up from the parking lot. yes a small parking mistake would have given a slap on my car's bumper which would have leaked some cash out of my pocket but thanks to the all mighty who is the all knower and the owner of this four dimensional murky something.

The incident happened when i went to the Masjid for my prayers and as i was searching for a parking spot near the Masjid, i saw one on the left side. As i reversed my car into the car parking, i was sure it would go in perfectly and the car sped back smoothly when without any reason i just looked back to see that it was just millimetres away from hitting the car parked next to mine. The thought was so fast that i thanked god for it. The thought came in so involuntarily as though some one just caught my face and turned it. As i sat in the masjid i thought about it because it made me ponder even though it was just a small incident that happens frequently with any person who drives. Why i thought about it is itself another wonder of the universe. The matter struck me that, thoughts even though are produced from the human mind or is voluntarily created by a human, sometimes it is as though some instant message or command is sent to the brain that makes you do things. even while thinking so, there is an element of mixture of pre defined destiny and voluntary human action in this world and life. God has made this world and programmed it in such a way probably.

as the famous hadith goes , tie your camel first before leaving it up to god, human destiny, the world and whatever exists in this four dimensional murky atmosphere(The Universe), is linked with our own actions too. But there is another layer to this thought. while it is a voluntary action by a human that performs certain tasks in his life which  creates his destiny, his destiny is already written by the almighty before his existence and hence it is fading into each other, and the layer of thought is that the destiny has been written for a person and the action he takes is part of his destiny as is in my case. so destiny or Qadr or the control of 'The One' is a more powerful layer of function on this universe.

"Allah! There is no god but He,-the Living, the Self-subsisting, Eternal. No slumber can seize Him nor sleep. His are all things in the heavens and on earth. Who is there can intercede in His presence except as He permitteth? He knoweth what (appeareth to His creatures as) before or after or behind them. Nor shall they compass aught of His knowledge except as He willeth. His Throne doth extend over the heavens and the earth, and He feeleth no fatigue in guarding and preserving them for He is the Most High, the Supreme (in glory)."