The dealings of God with His servants and the manner in which He deals with them are called sunnatullah by the Quran. The Almighty says that these practices are permanent and unalterable. Consequently, for a true comprehension of God, just as knowledge of His attributes is essential, knowledge of His dealings with His creation is also essential. We shall now present the details of these dealings; however, before we do this, it is essential that certain premises remain clear in our mind at the very outset.

Imam Amin Ahsan Islahi writes:

1. The Almighty has created each person with a noble nature and has blessed him with the ability to discriminate good from evil and has given him the freedom to choose whichever of them he wants to. After that, his becoming a good or a bad person is dependent on his attitude and on the Almighty’s grace. If he tries to adhere to virtue, the Almighty’s grace impels him to virtue and if he adopts evil, the Almighty, if He wants to, leaves him to tread the path of evil.

2. Issues on which the Almighty will hold a person accountable are those in which he has the freedom to choose and exercise his free will. People who do not have this freedom will not be held accountable by Him. This freedom to exercise one’s will has been granted by the Almighty and not something which a person possesses. Thus a person exercises his will while remaining subservient to the will of God. The Almighty, on the basis of His own will and wisdom, may not allow man to achieve what he intends; however, because of some reason which only His wisdom can encompass, if He does not allow a virtuous intention of a person to materialize, He does not deprive him of its reward; similarly, if He does not allow an evil intent to materialize, then this does not mean that He will necessarily acquit a person in the Hereafter.

3. Wherever the will of God has been mentioned in the Quran, it only means that except for God Himself no one has the power to stop Him from materializing it or to alter it in any way. It does not mean that His will is not subservient to justice and wisdom. The Almighty is wise and just and nothing that He does is devoid of justice and wisdom. Hence wherever His will is stated in the Quran, it must be considered to be subservient to the wisdom and justice according to which He is running the affairs of this world. It would not be correct to assume that He would act contrarily to whatever practice He has initiated for Himself and to the justice and wisdom He has chosen for Himself. For example, the Quran says that God guides whomsoever He wills and leads astray whomsoever He wills. This statement does not mean that He does not adhere to any principle of justice and wisdom in giving guidance to someone or leading him astray; it only means that giving guidance to someone or leading him astray materializes in accordance with the practice He has set for it and no one has the power to change or break it.

4. In the Quran, we find certain acts being attributed to God; however, the real objective in this regard, as referred to earlier, is not the attribution of these acts, it is their attribution to certain laws and principles on the basis of which these acts materialize. Because these laws and principles have been set by the Almighty, He has attributed the acts which emanate on the basis of these laws and principles to Himself at certain places in the Quran. For example, فَلَمَّا زَاغُوا أَزَاغَ اللَّهُ قُلُوبَهُمْ (٥:٦١) (And when they deviated [from the truth], God led away their hearts [from the truth], (61:5)) and وَنُقَلِّبُ أَفْئِدَتَهُمْ وَأَبْصَارَهُمْ (١١٠:٦) (We will turn away their hearts and eyes [from the truth], (6:110)). On such instances, the Quran also refers to the principle on the basis of which a certain act emanates. For example, words such as: “God only leads astray the defiant.” These insinuations are meant to direct the attention of the reader on the factual reality so that the apparent meaning of the words does not create any misconception in his mind.

5. The eternal and all embracing knowledge of the Almighty does not negate any of the practices and laws set by Him. Undoubtedly, He knows from the very beginning whether a person will adopt the right path or go astray; however, besides this, He also knows that a person will adopt or reject the right path in accordance with the law of guidance prescribed by Him.[1]

Two further things should remain clear as well:

Firstly, certain things are attributed to God also because He is the first cause and nothing can originate or materialize without His will and certain things are attributed to us because at times we become worthy of them. The Quran thus says:

وَإِن تُصِبْهُمْ حَسَنَةٌ يَقُولُواْ هَـذِهِ مِنْ عِندِ اللّهِ وَإِن تُصِبْهُمْ سَيِّئَةٌ يَقُولُواْ هَـذِهِ مِنْ عِندِكَ قُلْ كُلًّ مِّنْ عِندِ اللّهِ فَمَا لِهَـؤُلاء الْقَوْمِ لاَ يَكَادُونَ يَفْقَهُونَ حَدِيثًا مَّا أَصَابَكَ مِنْ حَسَنَةٍ فَمِنَ اللّهِ وَمَا أَصَابَكَ مِن سَيِّئَةٍ فَمِن نَّفْسِكَ وَأَرْسَلْنَاكَ لِلنَّاسِ رَسُولاً وَكَفَى بِاللّهِ شَهِيدًا (٤: ٧٨-٧٩)

And if they receive any benefit, they say: “This is from God.” But when evil befalls them, they say: “This was because of you.” Tell them: “Everything is from God!” What has come over these men that they are not prepared to understand a word? Whatever good befalls you is from God and whatever affliction comes your way is because of your own selves and O Prophet! We have sent you forth as a Messenger and sufficient is God’s testimony [on this]. (4:78-79)

While explaining these verses, Imam Amin Ahsan Islahi writes:

… first those people are addressed who were attributing their successes to God and failures to the Prophet (sws). They are told that the actual reality is that both good and evil manifest with the will of God; without His consent nothing can come into being. The difference, however, is that good comes into being as a requisite of God’s mercy and evil comes into being because of man’s deeds. Viewed thus, evil is related to one’s own self.

Here one must keep this in consideration that God is an embodiment of good. He has created this world as a manifestation of His mercy. Hence to ascribe any evil to Him is against His noble attributes. Evil comes into being because of person’s ill-use of his free-will. The Almighty has granted a person a certain sphere in which he has the freedom to exercise his will. This freedom is a great favour of the Almighty. It is on its basis that man occupies pre-eminence among other creations. It is on its basis that in the Hereafter, he will be held accountable and rewarded or punished accordingly. In the absence of this freedom, there would have been no difference between a human being and an animal. However, one thing that needs to be kept in consideration regarding this freedom is that it is not unlimited and unrestricted; as referred to before, this freedom is restricted to a certain sphere; and then, within this sphere too, it is subservient to the will and wisdom of the Almighty. Without His will and permission, a person cannot fulfill any of his will and intentions. Good intentions also materialize because of His grace and bad intentions also materialize because of the respite He grants. If the Almighty allows a certain evil intent to materialize, then this is attributed to God because it materialized because of His will and consent; however, from another angle it is an act of a human being because it was a product of his will.

What must further be understood is that whenever the Almighty allows the evil of a person or a group of persons to become rampant in a society then this is because, at a collective level, some benefit or well-being of His creation is intended. At certain instances, giving such opportunity to evil to make hey is to test the righteous so that their weaknesses are done away with and their qualities are polished. At certain other instances, the reason is to leave the wicked with no excuse to deny the truth and to bring to an end their period of respite. At still other instances, the Almighty creates circumstances so that what is hidden in the nature of people is revealed. Thus not only righteous deeds emanate from them as a result but evil deeds also emanate from people who have them hidden in themselves.[2]

Secondly, the basis of the directive of good and evil, and right and wrong is that what is in accordance with the attributes of God and what is against them. We praise justice because justice is an attribute of God and for this reason its likeness has been ordained in our nature. No doubt, this directive is relative as such but is also eternal because the attributes of God are eternal. Furthermore, there is no clash or conflict between these attributes so that the Almighty on one occasion wills something which is in accordance with His attributes and at another wills something else which is in conflict with them. In all circumstances, He fully adheres to justice:

شَهِدَ اللّهُ أَنَّهُ لاَ إِلَـهَ إِلاَّ هُوَ وَالْمَلاَئِكَةُ وَأُوْلُواْ الْعِلْمِ قَآئِمَاً بِالْقِسْطِ لاَ إِلَـهَ إِلاَّ هُوَ الْعَزِيزُ الْحَكِيمُ (١٨:٣)

God bears witness that there is no god but He, and so do the angels and people [who have true knowledge]. He is fully adherent to justice, there is no other God, [He is] the Mighty, the Wise. (3:18)

Imam Amin Ahsan Islahi writes:

The reference that God is adherent to justice is a very important constituent of faith and so close it is to the essence of Islam that one can say that it is in fact Islam. The importance it occupies requires that some points delineated by my mentor Imam Hamid al-Din Farahi in this regard be stated here so that people who intend to deliberate on the philosophy and wisdom of religion are able to benefit from them:

1. The word iman originates from the verbal noun aman. This, in other words, means that believing in something and adhering to it is ingrained in the very nature of iman. As an obvious consequence of this it is essential that a person must have a deep conviction on the existence of God. However, this conviction can only be achieved if a person believes that intellect is primarily meant to guide him and not to misguide him. It should be accepted, in other words, that intellect by its nature is a barometer of justice within a person. This premise necessarily leads to another conclusion: human nature is created by the Almighty on the principles of justice and equity. The reason for this is that the Almighty being an embodiment of justice and equity holds justice and equity very dear and is also One who wants to establish justice and equity everywhere. All these conclusions are a logical consequence and are in fact self-evident. It is evident from this discussion that one cannot verify the veracity of something unless the Creator is regarded to be an embodiment of truth and justice. From this fact, all the actions and deeds which emanate from God are regarded to be just and the way this fact is validated through intellect, it is also validated through universal truths. An explanation of this compact premise is that the Almighty has ingrained piety in human nature and made hearts inclined to relish and accept it. In such a situation, how is it possible for us that we like piety and not regard God as someone who likes piety. How can we regard our liking for the truth to be true if we are not satisfied with the liking for the truth of our Creator. We want to please him by doing a good deed because we are satisfied that He is pleased by a good deed. We ascribe good attributes to Him because in liking these attributes we are fully convinced of the veracity of our nature.

2. The foundation of faith is love for God. We profess faith in a being whom we love, who we want to please and from whom we have high hopes and expectations. This is not possible unless we are certain that it is absolutely impossible that He be unjust and oppressive. He will grant His favours to those who will obey Him and punish only those who are worthy of punishment. It is against human nature to love an unjust and oppressive master.

3. If one deliberates on the favours and blessings of the Almighty, the foundation of the requirement of professing faith in the Almighty which emerges in human nature is gratitude. This gratitude becomes mandatory when one accepts that it is the right of the Creator Who has bestowed these favours on us and a requisite of these favours. It is this very reality on the basis of which the Quran has called shirk (polytheism) as zulm (injustice) and iman as gratitude. Owing to this very reason, the basis of a person demanding his rights is necessity of justice. This is a self-evident reality of shariah and law. On these very grounds, the basis of every shariah is justice and fairness.

4. The consequence of faith is obedience to God and the consequence of obedience to God is the pleasure of God. In every deed and act which is committed, there is a similar relationship of causation which the Almighty has established through His commands and directives and has guided us in various ways towards it and since we have full conviction on these results of deeds hence while relying on His promises we obey Him. If we do not have faith on the fact that God honours His promises all basis of deeds will be razed to ground and all reliance will remain on either of the following two things: like the Christians on the false notion of intercession, which totally depends on Christ, who they worship as a deity and love more than God Himself or like the Jews on their deviation from the truth and short-sightedness: they abandoned their ship to the winds and because of their arrogance and pride did not remain content with the judgement of God as if to them there is no principle before God to discriminate good from evil. To protect oneself from going astray in this manner, it is essential that one has full conviction that God adheres to justice and every directive and promise of His is true, as specified by the Quran: وَتَمَّتْ كَلِمَتُ رَبِّكَ صِدْقًا وَعَدْلاً (١١٥:٦) (Fulfilled was the word of your Lord in truth and in justice, (6:115)).[3]

Following are the sunan (practices and dealings) of God:

1. Tests and Trials (Ibtila)

Discussion 22229

2. Guidance and Error (Hidayat-o-Zalalat)

Discussion 22255

3. Beyond-Capacity Directives (Takleef-e-maala yataaq)

Discussion 22302

4. Rise and Fall of Nations (Azal-o-Nasab)

Discussion 22313

5. Divine Help (Nusrat-e-ilahi)

Discussion 22322

6. Remorse and Repentance (Tauba wa Astaghfar)

Discussion 22342

7. Reward and Punishment (Jaza-o-Saza)

Discussion 22351

(Javed Ahmed Ghamidi)

(Translated by Dr. Shehzad Saleem)

_________________________________

[1] Amin Ahsan Islahi, Tadabbur-i-Qur’an, 2nd ed., vol. 1 (Lahore: Faran Foundation, 1986), 114.

[2] Ibid., vol. 2, 344.

[3] Ibid., vol. 2, 55.