Belief and Islam by Huseyin Hilmi Isik - HTML preview

FOOTNOTES (1-9)

[1] Praise and gratitude.

[2] Please see chapter 12 in the fifth fascicle of Endless Bliss.

[3] Imâm-i Rabbânî passed away in 1034 [1624 A.D.].

[4] In the letters of Imâm-ı Rabbânî, especially in the 286th letter of the first volume and in at- Tahtâwî’s commentary to Durr al-mukhtâr (in section “Zabâyih”) and Mawlânâ Hamd-Allâh ad- Dâjwî’s Al-Basâ’ir li-munkîr-it-tawassuli bi ahl al-maqâbir. Both books are in Arabic. The latter was written and printed in India and was reproduced in Istanbul in 1395 (1975).

[5] As-Sifât adh-Dhâtiyya of Allâhu ta’âlâ are six: al-Wujûd, existence; al-Qidam, being without beginning, and eternal in the past; al-Baqâ’, being without end, and eternal in the future; al-Wahdâniyya, having no partner or match; al-Mukhâlafatu li-l-hawâdith, being dissimilar to every creature in every respect; al-Qiyâmu bi nafsihi, self-existence or being unneedy of anything for His existence. No creature has any of these six attributes, nor any relation with them. They belong to Allâhu ta’âlâ exclusively. Some ’ulamâ’ said that al-Mukhâlafatu li ’l-hawâdith and al-Wahdâniyya were the same and that as-Sifât adh-Dhâtiyya are five.

[6] See pages 13 and 25.

[7] Khâlid-i Bagdâdî passed away in Damascus in 1247 [1826 A.D.].

[8] However, in the universe the state of substances changes in physical events. In chemical reactions, the essence or structure of substances changes. We see objects or substances cease to exist and change into other substances. Today, in atomic changes and nuclear reactions, which have been discovered recently, the matter or element, too, ceases existing and turns into energy.

[9] ‘Wujûd’ means ‘existence, being.’ There are three kinds of existence. The first one is Wâjib al-wujûd, the Necessary Existence. He always exists. He has never been nonexistent before, nor will He stop existing in the everlasting future. Only Allâhu ta’âlâ is Wâjib al-wujûd. The second one is mumtani’ al-wujûd, that cannot exist. It should never exist. Such is sharîk al-Bârî’ (partner to Allâhu ta’âlâ). Another god partner to Allâhu ta’âlâ or likeness to Him can never exist. The third one is mumkin al-wujûd, that may or may not exist. So are the universe, all creatures without any exception. The opposite of wujûd is ’adam (non-existence). All creatures were in ’adam, were nonexistent, before they came into existence.

FOOTNOTES (10-15)

[10] For, it is a change, an event, to come into existence out of nonexistence, and, according to our knowledge in physics, in order for a change to take place in a substance, the substance has to be acted upon by an exterior power, the source of which has to precede the substance.

[11] There is more detailed information in the chapter on page 80.

[12] These are the eight Sifât ath-Thubîtiyya of Allâhu ta’âlâ.

[13] Every being, from atom to stars, has been created with some calculations and laws. The regularity in the known laws of physics, chemistry, astronomy and biology bewilders the human mind. Even Darwin had to say that when he thought of the order and delicacy in the structure of the eye, he felt as if he would go crazy. Is it possible that He who has created all the laws, delicate calculations and formulas taught as scientific knowledge be defective?

[14] According to historians, the Prophet entered the cave at the Sawr Mountain towards evening on Thursday, 27 of Safar, 622 A.C., on his emigration from al-Makkat al-Mukarrama to al-Madînat al-Munawwara. He left the cave on Monday night and entered Qubâ, a quarter near Medina, on Monday, 8 of Rabî’al-awwal (20 of September, 622). The beginning of the Hijrî Shamsî calendar adopted by the Shî’ites is six months before this. That is, the Nawruz festival of the Mejûsî disbelievers (fire worshippers) begins on March 20. This happy day became the beginning of Muslims’ Hijrî shamsî calendar. On Thursday, day and night were equal, and he left Qubâ and entered Medina on Friday. The outset of the month of Muharram in the same year (Friday, 16th of June) was accepted as the beginning of Hijrî qamarî calendar. The Hijrî shamsî year coinciding with any Western new year’s day is 622 years less than that Western new year. And the Western year coinciding with any Hijrî shamsî year’s day is 621 more than that Hijrî shamsî new year.

[15] For example, to eat pork, to have alcoholic drinks, to gamble; for a woman or girl to show herself to others with nothing to cover her head, hairs, arms and legs and; for a man to show himself to others without covering the part between the knees and the navel, are all harâm. That is, Allâhu ta’âlâ has forbidden these. The four madhhabs, which explain of the commands and prohibitions of Allâhu ta’âlâ, drew separately the boundary of the private body surface, which man is forbidden to look at or to display, differently from one another. It is fard for every Muslim to cover those parts of the body as described by the madhhab he belongs to. Also, it is harâm for others to look at those who have not covered these parts of their bodies. It is written in Kimyâ-yi Saâdet that it is harâm for women and girls to go out without covering their heads, hair, arms, legs, and it is also harâm to go out with thin, ornamented, tight and perfume scented dresses. Their mothers, fathers, husbands and brothers who permit them to go out as such and who think that it is appropriate and who condone them will share their sins and torments; that is, they will burn in Hell altogether. If they repent, they will be forgiven and will not be burned. Allâhu ta’âlâ likes those who repent. In the third year of the Hejira, girls and women who had reached the age of puberty were ordered not to be seen by nâmahram men, and to cover themselves.

One should not be deceived by the false assertions of British spies and of those ignoramuses who have been trapped by them who say that there was no covering before the coming of the âyat of hijâb and who say that fiqh scholars have fabricated the command for covering later.

If a person professes Islam, he has to know whether something he does is compatible with the Sharî’at. If he does not know, then he has to learn by asking a scholar of Ahl as-sunnat or by reading books written by scholars in this category. If his action violates the Sharî’at, he will not be exempted from the sin or heresy caused by that action. He has to make tawba daily in the true sense. When tawba is made, the sin or heresy (caused by that action) will definitely be forgiven. If he does not make tawba, he will pay for it both in the world and in Hell. The kinds of punishment (that will be inflicted on him) are written in various parts of our book.

Parts of the body that men and women are to cover during namâz and elsewhere are called ‘awrat parts’. If a person says that Islam does not prescribe a certain part in the name of awrat, he becomes an unbeliever. Some parts of the body are awrat according to the ijma’ (unanimity, consessu) of all four Madhhabs, (and these awrat parts vary with sex). If a person flouts the importance of covering these parts of his (or her) body or of not looking at others' exposed awrat parts, i.e. if he (or she) does not feel any fear concerning the torment (that will be incrurred by the violation of thisprohibition), he (or she) becomes a disbeliever. In a man's body, parts between the pelvis and the knees are not awrat in the Madhhab of Hanbali.

If a person says, "I am a Muslim," he has to learn Islam's tenets and the actions that are fard (obligatory) and those that are haram (forbidden) with the consensus (ijma') of the four Madhhabs, and he has to pay due importance to this matter. Not to know is not a valid excuse. It is identical with intentional unbelief. A woman's entire body, with the exception of her hands and face, is awrat according to all four Madhhabs. So is the case with a woman's exposing her awrat parts, singing, or saying (aloud the eulogy called) Mawlid in the presence of men. If a person slightingly exposes a part of his body which is awrat not with ijma', i.e. which is not awrat in one of the other three Madhhabs, (though it is awrat according to his own Madhhab and two of the other three Madhhabs,) he will have committed a grave sin though this violation will not make him an unbeliever. An example of this is a man's exposing his legs between the pelvis and the knees, (which are, as we have already said, not awrat in the Hanbalî though they are awrat in the other three Madhhabs). It is farz to learn the Islamic tenets that you do not know. As soon as you learn them, you must make tawba and cover your awrat parts.

Lying, gossip, backbiting, slander, theft, cheating, treachery, hurting someone's feelings, mischief-making, using someone's property without permission, not paying a laborer's or porter's due, rebellion, that is, opposing the laws and the government's orders, and notpaying taxes are sins, too. Committing them against disbelievers or in non-Muslim countries is also harâm.

FOOTNOTES (16-20)

[16] Hadrat Shaikh ’Abd al-Haqq ad-Dahlawî [passed away in Delhi in 1052 (1642 A.D.)] wrote in his Persian work Takmîl al-îmân: “A hadîth-i-sherîf says, ‘You will see your Rabb on the Day of Judgement as you see the [full] moon on the fourteenth [of the month].’ As Allâhu ta’âlâ is known incomprehensibly in this world, so He will be seen incomprehensibly in the Hereafter. Great scholars such as Abu’l-Hasan al-Ash’arî and al-Imâm as-Suyûtî and al-Imâm al-Baihakî said that also angels were going to see Allâhu ta’âlâ in Paradise. Al-Imâm al-a’zâm Abu Hanîfa and some other scholars said that genies did not earn thawâb and would not enter Paradise and that only faithful genies would escape Hell. Women will see Allâhu ta’âlâ a few times in a year like festivals in this world. Perfect (kâmil) Believers will see Him every morning and evening while other Believers will see Him on Fridays. To this humble person myself, this good news covers the faithful women and angels and genies, too; it would be proper that the perfect and ’ârif women such as Fâtimat az-Zahrâ, Khadîjat al-Kubrâ, ’Â’ishat as-Sıddîqa and other Pure Wives [of the Prophet] and Hadrat Mariam and Hadrat Âsiya be given special treatment. Al-Imâm as-Suyûtî, too, meant this.”

[17] The mulhid or zindîq says that he is a Muslim. The mulhid is sincere in his words; he believes that he is a Muslim and is on the right path. However, the zindîq is an enemy of Islam. He feigns being a Muslim in order to harm Islam from within and to deceive Muslims.

[18] For instance, Allâhu ta’âlâ may be called “ ’Âlim” (the ‘Omniscient’), but we cannot use ‘faqîh’ which also means ‘’Âlim’ (scholar, one trained in Islamic sciences), for Islam does not use ‘faqîh’ for Allâhu ta’âlâ. Likewise, it is not permissible to say ‘God’ instead of Allah, because ‘god’ means ‘idol’; “Ox is the god of Hindus,” is said, for example. It is permissible to say, “Allah is one; there is no god but He.” Words like Dieu (French) and Gott (German) can be used for god or idol, but not for Allah.

[19] See the footnote on page 11 for the Sifât adh-Dhâtiyya, which are six.

[20] As the wings of each kind of fowl, or those of an aeroplane, are of their own structure and are different from the wings of each other kind, so angels’ wings have their own structure. When we hear the name of something which we have not seen or do not know, we presume that it is like the things we know, which is, naturally, wrong. We believe angels have wings, but we do not know how they are. Pictures of winged women in churches, publications or movies, which are regarded as angels, are all false. Muslims do not make such pictures. We should not regard these unrealistic pictures drawn by non-Muslims as true, and we should not believe our enemies.

FOOTNOTES (21-25)

[21] The Qur’an al-kerîm and the Hadîth ash-sherîf are in the Quraish language and dialect. But the words should be given the meanings used in the Hijâz thirteen hundred years ago. It is not correct to translate them by giving them contemporary meanings, which are the results of the changes throughout centuries

[22] By Sa’d ad-dîn at-Taftâzânî, who passed away in Samarqand in 792A.H. (1389).

[23] Those disbelievers who insidiously try to abolish Islam say, “Before becoming the Prophet, Muhammad (’alaihi-’s-salâm) had sacrified victims to idols,” and give reference to non-madhhabite books as documents. The lines above prove that this statement is a lie.

[24] ‘Rasûl’ is also translated as ‘prophet’ in the text.

[25] Today, in Arabia there are people called Wahhâbîs. They do not believe such hadîths. They call true Muslims who believe these hadîths “disbelievers.” Though they, on account of explaining wrongly the inexplicit or dubious nasses away, do not become disbelievers, they become people of bid’a. They greatly harm Muslims. Wahhâbism was founded by an idiot named Muhammad bin ’Abd-ul-Wahhâb of Najd city. Hempher, a British spy, misled him by using the heretical ideas of Ahmad Ibn Taimiyya [d. Damascus, 728 A.H. (1328)]. It spread out among the Turks and everywhere through the books of an Egyptian named Muhammad ’Abduh [d. Egypt, 1323 A.H. (1905)]. The scholars of Ahl as-Sunna pointed out in hundreds of their books that the Wahhâbîs were not the followers of a fifth madhhab, but those who were in heresy and on a wrong path. Also detailed information is given in Endless Bliss and Advice for the Muslim. May Allâhu ta’âlâ protect young men with religious duty from falling into the path of Wahhâbism, and may He not disconnect us from the right path of the scholars of Ahl as-Sunna, who are praised greatly in many hadîths! Âmin

FOOTNOTES (26-35)

[26] The Ismâ’îlî heretics and the enemies of faith disguised as Islamic scholars try to deceive the youth by saying and writing that the Mi’râj was not a bodily ascent but a spiritual state (hâl). We should not buy such corrupt books; we should not be decieved by them.

[27] Qâdî ’Iyâd al-Mâlikî, author of Shifâ’, passed away in Morocco in 544 A.H. (1150).

[28] Please see our other publications in English, particularly The Sunnî Path, Endless Bliss, five fascicles, Belief and Islam, and Documents of the Right Word.

[29] It can now be understood by this statement about Abû Bakr as-Siddîq (radiy-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’anh) how poor and how ignorant are those who think and write that Rasûllah (’alaihi’s-salâm) worshipped idols before his nubuwwa.

[30] Hasan bin Ali passed away because of being poisoned in Medina-i Munawwara in [669 A.D.].

[31] If blood relationship were the only criterion for superiority, Hadrat ’Abbâs should have been regarded superior to Hadrat ’Alî. Moreover, Abu Tâlib and Abu Lahab, who were very close in respect of blood, did not even have the honour and superiority existing in the lowest Believer.

[32] For example, it is declared in the hadîth as-sherîf on the 298th page of Al-hadîqa that ’Amr ibn al-’Âs (radiy-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’anh) was a mujtahid.

[33] Hadrat Muâwiya bin Abû Sufyân passed away in Damascus in 60 [680 A.D.].

[34] ’Amr Ibn al-Âs passed away in Egypt in 43 [663 A.D.].

[35] For more detailed information, please read the English books Advice for the Muslim and Endless Bliss, and also the Arabic Al-minhat al-wahbiyya fî ’r-raddi ’l-Wahhâbiyya, At-tawassuli bi ’n-Nabî wa jahâlat ’l-Wahhâbiyyîn and Sabîl an-najat and the Persian Saif al-abrâr. These works and the valuable books written in refutation to ahl al-bid’a are published by Hakîkât Kitâbevi in Istanbul. Both in Radd al-mukhtâr,(written by Muhammad Emin Ibni Âbidin who passed away in Damascus in 1252 [1836 A.D.] (volume III, the chapter on “Bâghî”) and in the Turkish Ni’met-i Islâm (the chapter on “Nikâh”), it is clearly written that the Wahhâbîs are Ibâhatîs. Eyyûb Sabri Pasha [d. 1308 A.H. (1890)], Rear-Admiral during the time of Sultân ’Abd al-Hamîd Khân II, in his Turkish works Mir’ât al-Haramain and Ta’rîkh-i Wahhâbiyyân, and Ahmed Cevdet Pasha, in the seventh volume of his Turkish Ottoman History, explained in detail about the Wahhâbîs. Also Yûsuf an-Nabhânî, in his Arabic work Shawahid al-haqq (3rd ed. Cairo, 1385/1965), refuted the Wahhâbîs and Ibn Taimiyya at length. Fifty pages of his work have been reproduced in the Arabic book ’Ulamâ’ al-Muslimîn wa Wahhâbiyyûn (Istanbul, 1972).

FOOTNOTES (36-42)

[36] Maudoodi is the founder of the association in India named Jamâ’atul-islâmiyya. He died in 1399.

[37] Sayyid Qutb was put to death in Egypt in 1386 [1966 A.D.]

[38] Rashid Ridâ is the disciple of Muhammad Abduh. He died in 1354 [1935 A.D.].

[39] This âyat shows that not everybody can understand the Book and the Sunna correctly. It commands those who cannot understand them not to try personally to understand the Qur’ân al-kerîm or the Hadîth ash-sherîf but to learn them by asking those who have understood them. If everybody had understood the meanings in the Qur’ân al-kerîm and the Hadîth ash-sherîf correctly, the seventy-two heretical groups would not have appeared. All of those who started these groups were deeply learned, but none was able to understand the meanings in the Qur’ân al-kerîm and the Hadîth ash-sherîf correctly. Misunderstanding them, they deviated from the right path and caused millions of Muslims to end up in perdition. Some of them have been very excessive in giving wrong meanings to âyats and hadîths so much so that they have become as heretical as to call Muslims of the right path ‘disbelievers’ and ‘polytheists’. In the book titled Kashf ash-shubuhât, which has been translated into Turkish and slipped into Turkey in a clandestine way, it is said that it is mubâh (permitted) to kill and confiscate the property of those Muslims who hold the faith of Ahl as-Sunna.

[40] See page 60.

[41] Imâm-ı Muhammed Ghazâlî passed away in the city of Tus is 505 [1111 A.D.].

[42] ‘Talfîq’ means ‘performance of an act by unifying or mixing the easy ways of madhhabs and in a way which is not compatible with any of them’. After one carries out an act according to one of the four madhhabs, that is, after his performance is sahîh (valid, suitable) in that madhhab, his observing additionally as many as possible of the conditions that are put in the other three madhhabs with the view that the act shall be sahîh and acceptable also in these madhhabs is called ‘taqwâ’, which is very reward-deserving.

FOOTNOTES (43-52)

[43] Yûsuf an-Nabhânî, Hujjat-Allâhi ’ala ’l-’âlamîn, p. 771-. The above quotation, which is translated from the Arabic original, does not contain any words added by the translator, who, as done in all our books, has put additions from other books in blocked brackets here, too, to prevent confusing them with the translated text. The Arabic original of the above passage from Hujjat-Allâhi ’ala ’l-âlamin was reproduced by offset in Istanbul in 1394 (1974).

[44] Tâhir Buhâri passed away in 542 [1147 A.D.].

[45] The author of the book Hadîqa passed away in 1143 [1731 A.D.].

[46] Fadlullah bin Hasen Tur Pushtî, a Hanafî fiqh scholar, passed away in 661 A.H. (1263).

[47] Jihâd through force (jihâd qatlî) is made by the State, by its army. Muslims’ making jihâd is their undertaking as soldiers the duty given to them by the State. That jihad qawlî, which is made through speech and writing, is better than jihâd qatlî is also written in the 65th letter.

[48] Telling them will not be gossip but al-amru bi’l-ma’rûf. Every Muslim has to learn the faith of Ahl as-Sunna and teach it to people whom he can influence. Books, magazines and papers explaining the words of the scholars of Ahl as-Sunna should be bought and sent to young brothers and acquaintances. We should strive hard in order that they read them. Also, books exposing the real purposes of the enemies of Islam should be distributed.

[49] Also in the first chapter of The Sunni Path and in the fifth and sixth chapters of the first fascicle of Endless Bliss.

[50] Sufyân bin ’Uyaina passed away in the city of Mekka in 198 [813 A.D.].

[51] A person who does not want to follow one of these four madhhabs does not belong to Ahl as-Sunna. See page 9.

[52] In every century there have been liars and heretics who made the religion a means for their worldly advantages and who came forward in disguise of Walîs, murshids or men of religious authority. Still there are evil people in every profession, in every branch of crafts and in every official post today. Seeing those who look for their advantages and pleasures in others’ harm, it would be injustice or ignorance to blemish all crafts and people with whom they are mixed. It would help factious people. For this reason, the existence of heretical men of religion and ignorant, false men of turuq should not cause us to speak ill of the ’ulamâ’ of Islam or great men of tasawwuf whose services have filled up honourable pages in history. We should realize that those who slander them are unjust.

FOOTNOTES (53-58)

[53] Abdulqâdir Geylânî passed away in Baghdâd in 561 [1161 A.D.].

[54] Hadrat al-Mahdî will be a descendant of the Prophet Muhammad (‘alaihi ‘s-salâm). His name will be Muhammad and his father’s name will be ‘Abdullâh. He will preside over Muslims, strengthen Islam and spread it everywhere. He will meet ‘Îsâ (‘alaihi ‘s-salâm), and together they will fight and kill ad-Dajjâl. During his time, Muslims will settle everywhere and live in comfort and ease.

[55] Ad-Dajjâl (who is called Antichrist by Christians, and who will also be called Masih because his fame will spread over the word) will be a son of a Jew of Khurasan, northern Iran, and an enemy of Islam commanding innumerable soldiers. He will kill Muslims and bring discomfort and disorder to the Middle East. After shedding much blood, he will be killed by Hadrat al-Mahdî. It is written with references in Mukhtasaru Tadhkirat al-Qurtubî by ’Abd al-Wahhâb ash-Sha’rânî (2nd ed., Istanbul, 1302) that ad-Dajjâl’s name will be Ibn as-Sayyâd.

[56] It is written in the Qur’ân al-kerîm that Yâ’jûj and Ma’jûj are two evil peoples, who, at a very ancient time, were left behind a wall, and that they will spread on the earth towards the end of the world. Considering that archaelogical research finds cities buried under the ground and sea fossils on the peaks of mountains, that wall does not have to have been found yet, nor do those peoples have to be so numerous that we see or know them today; it can be thought that, as thousands of millions of today’s people originated out of two poeple, those two peoples will spread on the earth multipliying out of a few people, whose place may not be known today.

[57] Muhammad Qurtubî Mâlikî, the author of the book Tadhkirat al-Qurtubî passed away in 671 [1272 A.D.].

[58] Plants absorb carbon dioxide from the air and water and salts (mineral substances) from the soil and unite them with one another and form organic substances, the living matter of our organs. It is known today that a chemical reaction taking years happens in less than a second when a catalyst is used. Similarly, Allâhu ta’âlâ will unite water, carbon dioxide and mineral substances in graves and create organic substances and the living organs in a moment. Mukhbir-i sâdiq (the Truth Reporter, the Prophet) reported that we would come to the other life in this manner. And science shows that this is being done in the world.

FOOTNOTES (59-62)

[59] In other words, it would be useless to try to make a picture of the balance or balances in your mind.

[60] Fire does nothing except to heat up to the ignition temperature. It is not fire that unites carbon and hydrogen with oxygen in organic substances or that supplies electron movements. Those who cannot realize the truth presume that fire does these. It is neither fire, nor oxygen, nor heat, nor the electron movement that burns or makes this reaction of burning. Only Allâhu ta’âlâ is the One who burns it. He created each of these as means for burning. A person lacking knowledge thinks that fire burns. A boy who finishes elementary school disapproves of the statement “fire burns.” He says, “The air burns,” instead. A person who finishes junior high school does not accept this. He says, “The oxygen in the air burns.” A person who finishes high school says that burning is not peculiar to oxygen, but any element attracting electron burns. A university student takes into consideration energy as well as matter. It is seen that the more a person knows the closer he gets to the inside of a matter and realizes that there are many causes behind the things regarded as causes. Prophets (’alaihimu ’s-salâm), who were in the highest degree of knowledge and science and who could see the reality of everything, and the ’ulamâ’ of Islam, who, following in their footsteps, attained drops from their oceans of knowledge, pointed out that each of the things supposed to be combustive or constructive today was an incapable and poor causal means put as an intermediary by the Real Creator.

[61] As a matter of fact, Allâhu ta’âlâ created substances to prevent the burning of fire. Chemists discover these substances.

[62] He who wants to light a lamp uses matches; he who wants to extract oil from olive uses crushing tools; he who has a headache takes an aspirin; he who wants to go to Paradise and attain infinite favours adapts himself to Islam; he who shoots himself with a pistol or who drinks poison will die; he who drinks water when in a sweat will lose his health; he who commits sins and loses his îmân will go to Hell. Whichever intermediary a person applies, he will obtain the thing for which that intermediary has been made a means. He who reads Islamic books learns Islam, likes it, and becomes a Muslim. He who lives amongst the irreligious and listens to what they say becomes ignorant of Islam. Most of those who are ignorant of Islam become disbelievers. When a person gets on a vehicle, he goes to the place it has been assigned to go.

FOOTNOTES (63-65)

[63] His each action is a result of so many physical and chemical events.

[64] Allâhu ta’âlâ, too, wishes and creates the good, useful wishes of those slaves of His whom He loves and pities. He does not wish or create the realization of their evil and harmful wishes. Always good, useful deeds are done by those beloved slaves. They regret having been unable to do many things, but if they thought and knew that those deeds were not created because otherwise they would have been harmful, they would not be sorry at all. Instead, they would be pleased with it and would thank Allah, who willed in eternity that He would create men’s optional, voluntary actions after their hearts’ opting and willing them; He willed it so. If He had not willed it so in eternity, He would always create even our optional actions by force, involuntarily, without our wishing them. His creating our optional actions after we wish them is because He willed it so in eternity. Then, the only dominant factor is His Will.

[65] As explained above, man’s optional actions happen through many physical, chemical and physiological events, which do not depend on his will and which he is not even conscious of. A reasonable scientist who has realized this subtlety would be ashamed to say, “I have done,” let alone saying, “I have created,” about his optional actions. He would feel modest towards Allâhu ta’âlâ. A person with little knowledge, understanding and modesty, however, does not feel ashamed to say anything at any place. Allâhu ta’âlâ has mercy upon all people on the earth. He creates whatever they need and sends them to everybody. Obviously He notifies them of what they should do so that they can live in this world in peace and happiness, and attain the endless bliss of the next world. He guides to the right path whomever He wishes among those who left the true way and followed the way to kufr (infidelity) and heresy as a result of being deceived by their own nafs (human desires), bad friends, harmful books, and media. He pulls them towards the right path. He does not bestow this blessing upon those who are cruel, and exceed the limits. He lets them stay in the swamp of disbelief where they