Faith in the Divine Decree - 9 - Eeman Series - Dr. Abdullah al-Farsi

Professionally, Shaikh (Dr.) Abdullah al-Farsi has a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering, from Cleveland State University, U.S.A. Shaikh (Dr.) Abdullah al-Farsi has studied many books under senior students from the Islamic University of Madeenah, and has been encouraged by them to teach the books of Aqeedah in English. Amongst the major scholars who know him are Shaikh Saaleh aal-Shaikh and Shaikh Saleh ibn al-Fawzan. He was known to Shaikh Ibn Baaz (rahimahullah) and has an honorary tazkeeyah (recommendation) from Shaikh Badiuddin Shah Sindhi (rahimahullah). Shaikh (Dr.) Abdullah al-Farsi has been active in the field of dawah since 1980, mostly in America and Europe, and he has taught many Aqeedah books in Kuwait. He has an extensive personal research on books of Tafseer, explanations of Hadeeth and the writings of Shaikhul-Islaam Ibn Taymiyyah (rahimahullah).
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Topics Covered under, Faith in the Divine Decree
Four Levels of Faith in the Divine Decree
Level 1. Allah's Comprehensive Knowledge
Level 2. Allah recorded everything in the Preserved Tablet (al-Lawh al-Mahfoodh).
Level 3. The Will of Allah

a) The Universal Will of Allah is His Decrees concerning His creation
b) The Legalistic Will of Allah is the laws He wants His slaves to follow

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Everything that occurs in the universe happens by the Universal Will of Allah
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The Legalistic Will of Allah may not necessarily occur

The Importance of Distinguishing between the two types of Will

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Refuting the Justification of the Qadariyah (those who deny al-Qadr) that because Allah does not love sin and kufr, we cannot say that He Willed it to occur.
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Refuting the Justification of the Mujbirah (those who believe that people are forced) that because Allah Willed everything to occur then He likes everything He Creates.
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The Danger of not distinguishing between the Two Types of Will
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Does believing in the Divine Decree mean that people are forced into their actions?
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How can mankind distinguish between actions one performs by his own will and actions that are beyond one's control?
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Can the Divine Decree be used as an excuse to sin or abandon obligatory duties

Level 4. Allah created all creatures, their attributes and their actions
Why are those who claim that one has no free will worse than those who claim that people's actions are not created by Allah?
Understanding Important Ahadeeth concerning the Divine Decree

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The Prophet (sallallahu alaihe wa-sallam) said, "One of you may do the deeds of the people of Hell until there is no more than a cubit between him and it. The decree then overtakes him and he does the actions of the people of Paradise and thus enters it.'' [Saheeh al-Bukharee]

Different Kinds of Writings

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Changes may occur in the books of decree handled by the Angels
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The Writing in the Preserved Tablet is not subject to any change whatsoever

The Way to understand the Divine Decree is to stop at what is said concerning it in the Qur'an and the Sunnah
The Prohibition of Indulging in Discussion the Divine Decree means not asking how or why? Like DigitalMimbar on Facebook: http://www.fb.com/TheMimbar
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