Recorded in a Book ? / Kismat ?!

[Talib]

Salamun Alaikum

I would like to have a better understanding of the following verse :

57:22

Y. Ali Sir
No misfortune can happen on earth or in your souls but is recorded in a decree before We bring it into existence: That is truly easy for Allah

Shabbir Sir
No disaster befalls the earth, nor yourselves but according to the laws that We have already recorded in the Book of decrees. Surely, all this is easy for God.

Please check the link if you want :

http://corpus.quran.com/wordbyword.jsp?chapter=57&verse=22

I simply want to understand if the verse implies that there is something like 'Kismat' (as many say) or Taqdeer. Quran says that it explains everything. Then what is this Book of decrees ?

Thank you

[chadiga]

Salam
Brother Joseph wrote a good article about this question:
http://quransmessage.com/articles/wudu%20before%20touching%20the%20quran%20FM3.htm
i hope it helps. Peace!

[optimist]

Salamun Alaikum

I would like to have a better understanding of the following verse :

57:22

Y. Ali Sir
No misfortune can happen on earth or in your souls but is recorded in a decree before We bring it into existence: That is truly easy for Allah

Shabbir Sir
No disaster befalls the earth, nor yourselves but according to the laws that We have already recorded in the Book of decrees. Surely, all this is easy for God.

Please check the link if you want :

http://corpus.quran.com/wordbyword.jsp?chapter=57&verse=22

I simply want to understand if the verse implies that there is something like 'Kismat' (as many say) or Taqdeer. Quran says that it explains everything. Then what is this Book of decrees ?

Thank you

Assalamu alaikum,

The verse in question is verse no. 57:22 in which it says; “No calamity comes to your society or self which had not been written in a book before We created this Universe”.

This is commonly taken to mean that every calamity is pre-destined and is unavoidable. In such a helpless situation, men must patiently take what comes naturally. In the first instance, this interpretation of the verses in question in this way nullifies the entire concept of the very basis of Din (the Quranic system, ...... the Law of Returns. Allah appears to be contradicting His own verses like “Man gets only what he strives for”, “Every calamity which befalls Man is of his own doing”, “Allah neither blesses nor punishes whitout due cause and reason -- it is all a consequence of Man’s own actions”. etc.

The Quran doesn’t contradict itself

Thus, this interpretation does not appear reasonable. Let us, then, try to see what the verses in question really mean:  Let us see in what context the term “book” is used in the Quran.

1. Sura Nisa uses the word Kitab for prohibition of marriage to certain relatives. (4:24) كِتَابَ اللَّهِ عَلَيْكُمْ Yousuf Ali has translated as “Thus hath Allah ordained (Prohibitions) against you”, meaning thereby that he translates kitab as ‘order’.

2. Sura Baqara uses the word kitab in (2/235). Yousuf Ali translates the verse thus: “nor resolve on the tie of marriage till the term prescribed is fulfilled” حَتَّىٰ يَبْلُغَ الْكِتَابُ أَجَلَهُ Hence ‘kitab’ has been translated as ‘prescribed’ i.e., prescribed by Allah. This is His order, decision or LAW.

3. “prayers are enjoined on believers at stated (prescribed) times.(kitaban maukootha) ” (4:103)

فَأَقِيمُوا الصَّلَاةَ إِنَّ الصَّلَاةَ كَانَتْ عَلَى الْمُؤْمِنِينَ كِتَابًا مَوْقُوتًا

4. “In it (the Quran) there are established laws (kutub)”. (98/3)

5.“About lonely women: “You don’t give them what has been determined (by law - kuteba) for them”. (4/12)

6. Sura An’aam talks about Allah’s knowledge encompassing the Universe - every leaf which falls off a tree, grains in the darkness of the earth, good and bad, dry and wet - everything is in ‘the clear book’ (6:59). Obviously, the book here means the laws of the physical universe.

7. Sura Aal-Imran talks about the ‘established’ regulations given in clear-cut terms (as compared to the ‘similes and, examples’ to give universal truths). These ‘established’ (محكمات ) are referred to as ‘mother of the book’ (3:6), ‘Mother of the book’ means Allah’s knowledge which is absolutely comprehensive -- “Don’t you know that Allah knows what ever is there in the skies and the earth? That (knowledge) is in a book” (22:70), says Sura Hajj. Elsewhere, it is referred to as “the clear book” (27:75).

Therefore, each and every occurrence in the physical universe, as well as Man’s social world, takes place under determined laws enacted by Allah, which is referred as “the book”.

Allah has pre-determined laws not only for calamities but also for alleviating them. For example, fire burns, but balm soothes. The words ‘whatever Allah has written for us in a book’ do not mean our pre-determined fate but whatever law has already been established. Fore example, see (2:187) where it says: ‘Strive to get whatever Allah has written for you. “obviously, ‘written’ in this verse does not mean pre-determined fate’ because that is inevitable and, as such, does not require any effort to get.

Wassalam