Page 56 - Islam and Karma

ISLAM AND KARMA

Just as we cannot change our past, so we cannot change our future.
This is because the future, just like the past, is already complete.
Everything that is going to happen to us—when and where we will eat
and what that food will be, who we will talk to, how much we will
earn, what illnesses we will get, and when, where and how we will
eventually die—all these things have already been decided on and
cannot be altered as they already exist in Allah's knowledge as com-

pleted events. All that remains is for us to acquire knowledge of them
through our own experience.
In these circumstances, it is absolutely unnecessary for us to feel
sorrow over the things that happen to us, to worry and to feel con-
cerned or fearful because of them; neither is it wise for us to do so.
Doing this would be like trying to influence the course of events in a
film we are watching because we fear for the characters in it.

For instance, when a person has an accident on the way to a meet-
ing or an interview that he thinks could change the course of his life
and misses the meeting as a result, he may suddenly despair and see
what has befallen him as a misfortune. He may even say to himself, "I
wish I had left home a minute later, then none of this would have hap-
pened”. But all these complaints are in vain: everything—the exact
second at which he will leave the house that day, the route he will take,
the means of transport he will use to get there, which other vehicle will
be involved in the accident and who will be in it—has already been de-

cided on by Allah before he is born.
Allah has shaped the course of every event in our lives in such a
way that it will have the best possible outcome for us if we have trust
in Allah and show gratitude to Him. We may not always understand
the reason for these events or the beneficial purpose for which Allah
created them, or we may only come to understand these things subse-
quently. However, if we can come to know Allah, acknowledge His in-

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