The Islamic Personality by Sheikh Taqīuddīn An-Nabahānī

The phrase al-qadā’ wa‘l-qadar which the mutakallimīn used as the name for a referrent they adopted from the Greek philosophy, had not been used for this meaning before, neither by the linguists or by the shar’a. In order to see to what extent to which the linguistic and shar’i meaning of al-qadar and al-qadā’ differs from the one given (to these words) by the mutakallimīn, we must present their meaning as it came in the Arabic language and the shar’i texts.

The word al-qadar has been given many meanings. Lingusitically it is said, he considered [qadara] the matter and assessed [qaddara] it; and, he compared one thing to the other and made the (first) a measure [miqdār] of it (the second); and it is said, he set [qadara] the thing qadāratan, meaning he prepared it and scheduled it. Qadara‘l-amr : he looked at the matter, arranged it and measured it. Qadran Allah: His Majesty. Qadar Allahu alayhi/lahu‘l-amr: He  decreed [qadā’] and judged. And it is said, upon him is the division [qadr] of the provision; and, He made it tight/constricted [qaddara] upon his family. Qadara‘l-rajul: the man thought over his matter in sorting it out and arranging it; and in the hadīth

That is, complete 30 days.

The word qadar came in the Noble Qur’ān in many meanings. Allah  says

That is, it is an irrevocable matter or definitive inescapable decree; and He  says:

That is, it is an irrevocable matter or definitive inescapable decree; and He  says:

That is, then constricts upon him his means of provision; and He  says:

that is, it rose to the level Allah  had decreed in the Lawh al-Mahfūdh, that is, He  wrote it, namely, the destruction of the people of Nuh by the flood. He  says:

That is, He made in therein (the Earth) the growing of the inhabitant's provisions, that is, the attribute of growing the provisions. He  says:

That is, he thought of what he would say about the Qur’ān and determined in himself what he would say and arranged it. He  says:

that is, He  created everything and proportioned it, and determined for every living thing the way to its well-being and guided it to this and made it known to it the way to achieve this, that is, He  made in every living thing, man and animal, needs requiring satisfaction and He  guided them to the proper satisfaction of their needs. And He  says:

That is, we made in it easiness in journey and made it safe. He  says:

That is, a proper proportion and planned timing; and He  says:

That is, with due estimation [taqdīr]; and He  says:

That is, for a determined time; and He  says:

That is, we made the determination of death amongst you with difference and disparity, so your lives (ages) differ in being short, medium and long. He  says:

That is, with known measure. He  says:

That is, Our decree was that she would be of those who lag behind; and He  says:

That is, you came at a specific time I set for that (coming).

The word qadar came in the Hadīth with the meaning of the Knowledge of Allah  and His Determination [taqdīr]. It has been narrated from Abu Hurairah  that he said, the Messenger of Allah  said,

That is, that which Allah  has ordained in Lawh al-Mahfūdh, that is, that which He  has decreed and knew of; this being of similar meaning is similar to His  saying:

that is, decreed in the Lawh al-Mahfūdh. It has been narrated from Abu Hurairah  from the Prophet  that he said,

That is, the nadhr does not bring son of Adam anything that Allah  did not already decree and record in the Lawh al-Mahfūdh, that is, in His  knowledge, rather He extracts from the stingy by the nadhr. Here, ‘I had decreed it’ means I had decided it and knew of it; and the qadar here is the determination [taqdīr] of Allah  and His  Knowledge.

Al-Bukhari relates from the way of Abu Hurairah  that the Messenger of Allah  said

“Adam argued with Mūsā. Mūsā said: Are you Adam, the one who brought your offspring out of Jannah? Adam said: Are you Mūsā, the one whom Allah chose for His Messages and Speech? Yet you blame me for a matter which had been decreed [quddir] for me before I was born. Thus Adam convinced Mūsā.” [Bukhari] That is, it was written for me, meaning, Allah  knew of it, that is, it was upon the determination of Allah’s  Judgment. Tawūs said, I heard Abdullah ibn Umar  saying, the Messenger of Allah  said:

That is, everything is according to the determination [taqdīr] of Allah  and His  Knowledge, that is, He  has written that in the Lawh al-Mahfūdh.

The phrase ‘the qadar of Allah’ has come in the speech of the Sahabah  with the meaning of the taqdīr of Allah  and His  Knowledge. It is narrated from Abdullah ibn ‘Abbas  that, “Umar ibn al-Khattāb  left for al-Sham, until he reached Sawgh where he met the leaders of the armies, Abu Ubaydah ibn al-Jarrah  and his companions who informed him that plague had befallen the land of Sham. Ibn ‘Abbas  said, Umar ibn al-Khattāb  said, ‘Call for me the first Muhājirīn’. So they called them, he consulted them and informed them about the plague that that befallen Sham, but they differed. Some of them said, you went out for a matter and we do not think you should change your mind about it. Some others said that you have with you some people and the Companions of the Messenger of Allah  and we do not think that you should expose them to this plague. Umar said ‘Withdraw from me’. He then said, ‘Call for me the Ansār’, so they called them, he consulted them, and they took the path of the Muhājirīn, so they differed like them. He said: ‘Withdraw from me.’ Then he said, ’Call for me whoever present here of the leaders of Quraish who are of the Muhajireen of the Conquest’, so they called them and even two men of them did not differ in their opinion to him. They all said, ‘We think that you should turn back together with the people who are with you and not expose them to this plague.’ Thus Umar announced to the people, ‘I will be riding (back) in the morning, so you do the same’. Abu Ubaydah then said, ‘(Are you) fleeing from the qadar of Allah  ?’ Umar replied, ‘had someone else said that O Abu Ubaydah; Yes, we are fleeing from the qadar of Allah  to the qadar of Allah. What do you think if you had camels and you descended a valley that has two slopes (sides), one of them is fertile and the other barren. Is it not true that if you grazed (in) the fertile one you would do so with the qadar of Allah , and if you grazed (in) the barren one you would do that with the qadar of Allah .” The qadar of Allah  here means the determination and the knowledge of Allah , that is, if you grazed (in) the fertile you did what Allah  had decreed in the Lawh al-Mahfūdh and what He  did know. Similarly if you grazed in the barren one you did what Allah  decreed in the Lawh al-Mahfūdh and what He  did know.

It it clear from all this that the word ‘qadar’ is a homonym having many meanings, of which include determination [taqdīr], knowledge ['ilm], arrangement [tadbīr], time [waqt], preparation [tahī'ah] and making an attribute. Yet despite these various meanings, qadar did not come in them with the meaning that that the servant does the action by compulsion; nor did it come with the meaning that it is the collective judgement in the partial matters and the details; nor did it come with the meaning that it is one of the secrets of Allah . Therefore, the word ‘qadar’ has linguistic meanings and the Quran used it with these meanings. The Hadīth used it with the meanings used in the Quran. There is no difference in the meanings between those used in the Quran and those used in the Hadīth. These are linguist meanings for a term, so the intellect has a no role in that. If there are no shar’i meanings, neither in a verse nor in a hadīth, other than these meanings, then it should not be said that a conventional meaning is the shar’i meaning.

It is clear from all of these meanings that came in the verses that they do not mean the qadar over which the mutakallimūn differed, and that the purport of the meanings which came in the ahadīth is the determination [taqdīr] of Allah  and His  Knowledge, that is, His  writing in the Lawh al-Mahfūdh, and they have no connection with the subject of al-qadā’ wa‘l-qadar which the mutakallimūn brought up for discussion. As for what al-Tabarani reported with a good [hasan] chain from the hadīth of Ibn Mas'ūd  who reported it without mentioning the reference to the Messenger of Allah (PBUH) [marfū']:

that is, if the Knowledge of Allah  or His  Determination for things are mentioned then do not involve (in discussions) about it, because the fact that the determination of a thing is from Allah  means that He  recorded them in the Lawh al-Mahfūdh, that is, He  knew them. The fact that Allah  is knowing about them is one of the attributes of Allah  in which īmān is obligatory. So the meaning of the hadīth is that if it was mentioned that Allah  is the One who determined the things and He  knew them, that is, He  recorded them in the Lawh al Mahfūdh, then do not involve yourself in discussing that, rather abstain from that and submit to it.

Similarly, what was reported from Tawūs that,

Its meaning is that (everything) is with the Determination of Allah , that is, with knowledge from Him . Abu Hurairah  narrates that the Messenger of Allah (PBUH) said

And its meaning is that Allah  wrote in the Lawh al-Mahfūdh, that is, He  knew. All of these matters are related to the attributes of Allah , and that He  knows the things before they happen, and they occur with qadar from him , that is, with His  knowledge. All of this has nothing to do with the subject of al-qadā’ wa‘l-qadar.