Submission to Destiny

You should be aware that you are in a state of unconditional submission to your own destiny. No power other than Allah can alter this. Everything that you have experienced or will experience in future is set out in the Sight of Allah, and you have no control over your future. This book will leave your hands in a while, wrinkles will appear on your face in a few years’ time, and all the details of a film you will watch 15 years from now are all included in the knowledge of Allah. The people you will meet, how much money you will earn, which illnesses you will suffer, what you will rejoice over and how and where you will die—all this has already taken place in your own destiny.

The only reason why you do not know these things is that they are not yet in your memory.
Grieving over something that happens, therefore, wondering “Why did it happen like that?”, harboring sorrow and regret and starting with the words “If only . . . ,” and becoming angry, greedy or impatient—all these actions are needless and meaningless. That is because all events that give rise to sorrow or anger are under the control of Allah. It is Allah Who creates all of these within a person’s destiny, and there can be no question of any other possibility outside a person’s destiny.

If someone has a traffic accident after turning into the wrong street, it is meaningless to complain about his mistake. Even if he could have his time over again, he would still turn into the wrong street and still have that accident. Saying things like, “If only I had my life to live over” are pointless and stem from a failure to understand this fact. Similarly, it is no solution for someone whose wallet is stolen to say, “If only I hadn’t gone into that shop,” or “If only I had kept my money in my pocket.” That person had no alternative but to go into that shop, carry money in his wallet and have it stolen. That person’s destiny has been created to go into a particular place at a particular time and for the money to be stolen. Even if he were to go back in time a thousand times, the money would still be stolen a thousand times.

A happy event or a success achieved are also in the individual’s destiny. Those successes and moments of joy will inevitably be experienced, because they are appointed in destiny.
Some people are reluctant to accept this insight. Roger Penrose describes them:

I think the trouble that people have with this idea is that you think the future is under your control, to some degree. And so, this means that if the future’s laid out, then in a sense it’s not under your control.148

Since most people wish to be in control of their own lives, they reject the fact of destiny. Yet they fall into a serious error by doing so, because whether or not they wish to, whether they admit the fact or not, people live their own destinies. People’s very denial is also appointed in their destiny!

If Allah afflicts you with harm, no one can remove it except Him. If He desires good for you, no one can avert His favor. He bestows it on whichever of His slaves He wills. He is Ever-Forgiving, Most Merciful. (Surah Yunus, 107)

. . . Allah’s command is a pre-ordained decree. (Surat al-Ahzab, 38)

It will be useful to recall that living in submission to one’s destiny is a great blessing and brings great peace of mind. People experience great panic and distress if they think that events are actually under their own control. They then imagine that every event in the future will be their own responsibility, and they feel the weight of every event on their own shoulders. They feel that they must resolve all difficulties on their own. Unable to see the auspicious side of the functioning of events, they experience great distress in the face of events. They grow proud in the face of the triumphs they achieve, which feeling may result in serious harm in this world and in the Hereafter. The difficulties they experience, on the other hand, lead to increasing pessimism, emptiness and stress.

But knowing that every event takes place within a destiny determined by Allah and believing that all events are created for good is one of the greatest blessings a person can enjoy. Living in submission to the destiny appointed by Allah means accepting His will and voluntarily submitting to every event determined by Him. People will then be freed from the feeling that events are under their control, will feel rid of troubles, will know that they are living events that are already over and done with, and will enjoy the peace of mind that this imparts. Submission to destiny is a great blessing for anyone who knows that all things are created to be auspicious. Even events that may appear to be troubles or difficulties are in fact positive and eventually result in great good.

When considering the concept of destiny, some people take the fact that everything is predetermined to imagine that there is no need for them to do anything. Yet this is a major distortion of the concept of destiny. True, everything we experience is determined in our destinies—before we experience them, those events have already taken place in the Sight of Allah and all its details are written down in the Lawh al-Mahfuz (the Preserved Tablet) in His Sight.

However, Allah gives every human being the feeling that they are able to alter events and act in accordance with their own decisions and choices. When one is thirsty, for example, one does not sit down and wait, saying,“I will have a drink—if that is in my destiny.” One gets up, takes a glass and drinks. In fact, of course, one drinks the amount of water determined in one’s destiny. But one nevertheless feels that one is doing this in accord with one’s own wish. That feeling is experienced in everything we do throughout our lives. The difference is that someone who has submitted to the destiny created by Allah knows that despite the feeling he does things of his own accord, he actually performs them by the will of Allah. Others who have failed to grasp this fact mistakenly imagine that they do everything with their own intelligence and strength.

For example, a submitted person who learns that he has contracted a disease will be resigned, since he knows that this is his destiny. He will say, “Since Allah has created this in my destiny, there must be an auspicious element to it.” He will not sit back and do nothing saying “If I am destined to recover, I will.” On the contrary, he will take all the requisite precautions. He will go to the doctor, be careful what he eats and take medicine. However, he will not forget that the doctor he visits, the treatment administered, the drugs he takes, and how effective these will be—in short, every single detail—are all in his destiny. He knows that all these events were already in the memory of Allah, long before he ever came into the world.
Allah has revealed this in verses:

It is He Who created you from clay and then decreed a fixed term, and another fixed term is specified with Him. Yet you still have doubts! (Surat al-An‘am, 2)

. . . Allah’s command is a pre-ordained decree. (Surat al-Ahzab, 38)

Not just human beings have a destiny in the Sight of Allah, but the Sun, the Moon, mountains, trees and all things and entities. A centuries-old antique vase that is broken, for example, breaks at the moment appointed in its destiny. The people who would use this vase, where it would stand in which home, and what other objects would be standing alongside it were all determined at the moment it was manufactured.

Every pattern on it and all its colors were determined beforehand in its destiny. The day, hour and minute when it would be broken, and by whom and how, already exist in the memory of Allah. In fact, the moment that the vase was first made, the moment it was placed in the shop window, the moment it was placed in its new home and the moment it was broken—in short, every moment in the life of that vase lasting several hundred years—all exist as a single moment in the Sight of Allah. Although the person who broke the vase was totally unaware of that event even a few seconds beforehand, that moment had already happened and was known in the Sight of Allah. That is why Allah tells us not to be saddened by what befalls us. That is because what happens is part of one’s destiny, and human beings have no power to change this. However, people must still learn from destined events and, by seeing the wisdom and goodness in them, turn to our Lord, Who creates their destinies and Who is infinitely Merciful, Affectionate and Just, and Who preserves and protects His servants.

The form people assume while still an embryo, their state when they first learn to read and write and the fitness they display on their 35th birthday and when they retire are already determined in the book in the Sight of Allah. Human beings can neither experience nor do anything that is not appointed in their destiny. People heedless of this major truth spend their lives in a state of anxiety and fear.

For example, they constantly worry about their children’s futures, which school they will attend, what jobs they will have, their state of health and the kind of lives they will lead. In fact, however, everything from a person’s existence as a single cell to the time when they first learn to read and write, from the answers they give in exams to what job they will do in which company, how many times they will sign their names, and how and where they will die—everything is predetermined in the Sight of Allah. All these events lie concealed in the memory of Allah. For example, people’s state at this precise moment, as a fetus, in primary school, at university, first day at the office, when they celebrate their 35th birthday, when they see the angels at the time of their death, when they are buried by their relatives and the moments when they account for themselves in the Hereafter—all exist as a single moment in His Sight.

Those who sincerely submit to Allah may hope to attain His approval, mercy and Paradise, and will live in peace and happiness in both this world and the Hereafter. For someone who has submitted to Allah and who knows that the destiny created by Him is the most auspicious for them, there is nothing to fear, or regret or sorrow over. Such people will make genuine efforts, but will know that these are all in their destiny, and that they have no power to change what is written in their destiny, no matter what they may do.

A believer will submit to the destiny created by Allah, will embrace, as much as he can, the events he encounters, will take precautionary measures and seek to turn all events in an auspicious direction, but will live in the awareness and ease imparted by knowing that they all take place within his destiny and that Allah has already determined them in the most auspicious form.

In the Qur’an, Allah refers to a precaution taken by the Prophet Yaqub (as) for the security of his children. In order that they should not attract the attention of evilly disposed persons, the Prophet Yaqub (as) recommended that his sons enter the city by separate gates, but also reminded them that this could never alter the destiny appointed by Allah:

He [Jaqub] said, “My sons! You must not enter through a single gate. Go in through different gates. But I cannot save you from Allah at all, for judgment comes from no one but Allah. In Him I put my trust, and let all those who put their trust, put it in Him alone.” (Surah Yusuf, 67)

Allah reveals in another verse that no matter what they may do, people cannot change their destinies:

Then He sent down to you, after the distress, security, restful sleep overtaking a group of you, whereas another group became prey to anxious thoughts, thinking other than the truth about Allah—thoughts belonging to the Time of Ignorance—saying, “Do we have any say in the affair at all?”’ Say, “The affair belongs entirely to Allah.” They are concealing things inside themselves which they do not disclose to you, saying, “If we had only had a say in the affair, none of us would have been killed here in this place.” Say, “Even if you had been inside your homes, those people for whom killing was decreed would have gone out to their place of death.” So that Allah might test what is in your breasts and purge what is in your hearts. Allah knows the contents of your hearts. (Surah Al ‘Imran, 154)

As can be seen from this verse, even if people avoid an auspicious, religious observance in order to save their lives, they will still die if that is what is written in their destiny. The methods to which such a person will resort in order to avoid death are also determined in that destiny, and everyone will experience what has been determined for them.

In this verse, Allah also states that the events created in people’s destinies are intended to test them and cleanse their hearts. In Surah Fatir, it is revealed that everyone’s life span is determined in the Sight of Allah:

Allah created you from dust and then from a drop of sperm and then made you into pairs. No female becomes pregnant or gives birth except with His knowledge. And no living thing lives long or has its life cut short without that being in a Book. That is easy for Allah. (Surah Fatir, 11)

The following verses from Surat al-Qamar reveal that everything a person does has been written line by line and relate the events experienced by the people of Paradise as events which have already occurred. As has already been stated, the true life in Paradise is the future for us. However, the discourse, experiences and banquets in Paradise are all present in the memory of Allah. The future of all people in this world and in the Hereafter have taken place in a moment in the Sight of Allah before we are even born and are preserved in His memory:

Everything they did is in the Books. Everything is recorded, big or small. The people who guard against evil are amid Gardens and Rivers, on seats of honor in the presence of an All-Powerful King. (Surat al-Qamar, 52-55)

In some verses of the Qur’an, Allah refers to some events which lie in the future for us, but which have already taken place in His Sight. For example, certain verses revealing that people will have to account for themselves to Allah in the Hereafter relate those events as already over and done with:

The Trumpet is blown, and those in the heavens and those in the Earth all lose consciousness, except those Allah wills. Then it is blown a second time and at once they are standing upright, looking on. And the Earth shines with the Pure Light of its Lord; the Book is put in place; the Prophets and witnesses are brought; it is decided between them with the truth . . . (Surat az-Zumar, 68-69)

Those who disbelieve are driven to Hell in companies . . . (Surat az-Zumar, 71)

And those who have fear of their Lord are driven to the Garden in companies . . . (Surat az-Zumar, 73)

Other verses on the same subject read:

[On that Day,] every self came together with a driver and a witness. (Surah Qaf, 21)

And Heaven is split apart, for that Day it is very frail. (Surat al-Haqqa, 16)

And [He] rewarded them for their steadfastness with a Garden and with silk. Reclining in it on couches, they experienced there neither burning sun nor bitter cold. (Surat al-Insan, 12-13)

And the Blazing Fire is displayed for all who can see. (Surat an-Nazi‘at, 36)

So today those who believe laugh at the disbelievers. (Surat al-Mutaffifin, 34)

The evildoers saw the Fire and realized they had to fall into it and found no way of escaping from it. (Surat al-Kahf, 53)

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