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| Book Summary: Divine Will and Predestination in the light of the Quran and Sunna - Umar S. al-Ashqar |
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This book by the Saudi theologian ‘Umar S. al-Ashqar, a Wahabi obviously, is about the relationship between the eternal decree of God (al-Qadar) and the human responsibility to strive for doing what is lawful in Islam. If God has predestined our eternal fate, even every action of ours, why should we worry about doing good? The English translator of the Arabic original of this book says that the author tries to explain how all that happens in life is decreed before creation by God, and how at the same time people must be actively pursuing doing what is prescribed by Islam. According to the translator, while ‘all that happens, takes place within the framework of the Divine Will, man has freedom of choice within those parameters’. (p. 13) This nicely designed book is Part 6 in the Islamic Creed Series of International Islamic Publishing House (IIPH). It is the translation of the Arabic original that was published in 1990. This English version was published in Riyadh in 2003. Abu Banaat made this book summary; he added some questions for group discussion.
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