Page 55 - Islam and Karma

Concepts of Fate in the Karma Belief System and in the Qur'an

book since before time. By way of illustration, let us imagine someone
walking along a road. This person needs time to walk to the far end of
the road. However, if we were to look at an aerial photograph of the
road and the person beginning to walk along it, we would be able to
see both the person setting out on his journey and the far end of the
road all at once. We would not need the passage of time in the same

way as the walker.
It is essential to understand this. For although we think that it is
we ourselves who do everything we do throughout our lives by means
of our own free will, in fact we are only following the course set out
for us by Allah. Our lives are like a film recorded on video. However,

we cannot wind the tape on to see what happens at the end, whereas
the whole of the film was known to Allah in a single instant. In any
case, it is Allah Who has decided on and created every detail of this
film. Just as we can see the whole of a ruler from end to end at one
time, so can Allah see the period of time during which we are alive in
its entirety, as if it were a single moment. We, on the other hand, can-
not experience events until the time comes for us to do so; it is only

then that we perceive the fate Allah has created for us.
Every moment in the life of every person who has ever lived and
who will ever live in this world, from the time when they are a foetus
in the womb until the day they die, has been predetermined by Allah
and is already known to Him. No detail is too insignificant, be it a

child’s first day at school or the hour in middle age in which his first
white hair appears. This is the meaning of fate for everyone on earth.
Everything that has happened in the past and whatever will hap-
pen in the future is already a reality with Allah. The fact that all future
events are lying in wait for us to experience them, illustrates an im-
portant point: everyone, whether they like it or not, has already sub-
mitted unconditionally to the destiny Allah has planned for them.

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