Page 40 - The Muslim Way of Speaking

THE MUSLIM WAY OF SPEAKING

tiny determined by Allah. It is already foreordained what phases your-
self and the things that belong to you, such as the table, the rose
seedling, and your friends, will experience in the future. For example, it
had already been known, far into eternity in Allah's sight, who would
plant the seed of the tree from which the table was made, for how long
and under what conditions the tree would grow, when, how and by
whom it would be cut down, to which sawmill it would be taken, in
what dimensions it would be cut, what quality and shape of table
would be made of it, how you would decide to buy the table, where
you would find it, when you will put it in your house, in which part of
your house you would put it, and what meals you will eat, who you
would talk to and what letters you would write at it, because Allah de-
termined all such things before you were born, and knew, as in a single
transcendent moment, how to bring them about. To you, however, you
would learn of them only as they occurred, in sequence through time.
If a person is not informed of the reality of destiny, or has not fully
understood its reality, he may act without considering that he is fulfill-
ing the destiny prescribed for him, and be led astray by the sequence of
events he experiences. For example, when he goes out to buy a dining
table for his house, he looks through dozens of shops, changes his mind
time after time in each case, thinks carefully, exchanges ideas and dis-
cusses his options with those with him. In the end, he believes he has
taken a decision of his own deliberation. In fact, however, before he had
set out to buy the table, the one he was ultimately to choose was al-
ready written in his destiny; therefore, he merely searched for, found
and purchased that table which was already prescribed for him accord-
ing to his destiny. The exchange of ideas, the discussions and his diffi-
culty in reaching a decision, were all likewise determined according to
a destiny prescribed by Allah.
Hence, for a person to feel pain, regret, sorrow or fear in response to
a particular event, and to waste words such as "If only I had done such

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