Epic Beard Man
Bearded Philosopher
Excuse me as I've been away for quite some time off this forum so let me say in advance, that I apologize if this subject as been discussed ad nauseum. Before I present my argument I wanted to discuss basic concepts for others when discussing the concept of free will. To have free will is to be an agent with the ability to choose the course of his or her action. Will, and subsequent courses of action depends on a rational faculty which related to a persons cognition, and as such the intellect presents various things to the will as "good" under some unique description. For example, Aaliyah thinks of walking her dog, and her intellect thinks about walking the dog as good for the health and welfare of the dog. However, when considering this we must also consider the paradigmatic of free action, such as whether to choose or not choose to do a certain action such as looking at weather etc (ex "it's raining so it may not be good to walk my dog").
Understanding this, I reflect David Hume in his book "An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding," believes that liberty, is simply the “power of acting or of not acting, according to the determination of the will: that is, if we choose to remain at rest, we may; if we choose to move, we also may.…" We either choose to act or not act, and an agent is free so long as no external event prevents action. So in the case of Aaliyah, she may not be able to take her dog walking if its a severe rain storm outside despite her desire to take her dog for a walk. Now I do not want to get into a lengthy discussion on the hierarchal foundations of will and such but just to start at a foundation of the basic understanding of freewill and some philosophical ideas of free will.
According to Islam there is divine ordination, or pre-destination where all things are written down on a preserved tablet called "Al-Lauḥ al-Maḥfūẓ" (All that happens will happen). To be clear this is not to say that action are determined by what is written on this preserved tablet, but all actions that happen are "written on the tablet" due to God's foreknowledge of all things. But what becomes problematic for me is looking at the four stages of Taqdeer (fate). Apparently after Adam, God took two covenants, one, which all souls testify that God is their Lord and two, covenant is taken from the children of Adam through the Prophets that they will believe in Divine Oneness and follow his revelation.
Now going by the first covenant, God has already decreed from a spiritual view, which souls will go to paradise and hell. Since good action along with going by the second covenant are contingencies, how does one have absolute agency in relation to these covenants? I must concede that although I am freely typing in this thread, God knew my action and knew when I'm done, I'll close my laptop and go about my business. But what I find problematic is that from a spiritual/metaphysical point of view whatever actions I commit in this life, were already done outside time/space (I saw outside time and space based on the foreknowledge of God knowing all actions and sequences outside our time and space).
I understand the Islamic view of decree in the sense of human capability, however the problem lies in the spiritual view that all actions were already determined and that God knows the eventual destination of all humans prior to them experiencing their reward and punishment. In God's mind, I have already performed my actions, and so as I exist, I'm merely playing out those actions, so again, how do I have free will knowing this?
Understanding this, I reflect David Hume in his book "An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding," believes that liberty, is simply the “power of acting or of not acting, according to the determination of the will: that is, if we choose to remain at rest, we may; if we choose to move, we also may.…" We either choose to act or not act, and an agent is free so long as no external event prevents action. So in the case of Aaliyah, she may not be able to take her dog walking if its a severe rain storm outside despite her desire to take her dog for a walk. Now I do not want to get into a lengthy discussion on the hierarchal foundations of will and such but just to start at a foundation of the basic understanding of freewill and some philosophical ideas of free will.
According to Islam there is divine ordination, or pre-destination where all things are written down on a preserved tablet called "Al-Lauḥ al-Maḥfūẓ" (All that happens will happen). To be clear this is not to say that action are determined by what is written on this preserved tablet, but all actions that happen are "written on the tablet" due to God's foreknowledge of all things. But what becomes problematic for me is looking at the four stages of Taqdeer (fate). Apparently after Adam, God took two covenants, one, which all souls testify that God is their Lord and two, covenant is taken from the children of Adam through the Prophets that they will believe in Divine Oneness and follow his revelation.
Now going by the first covenant, God has already decreed from a spiritual view, which souls will go to paradise and hell. Since good action along with going by the second covenant are contingencies, how does one have absolute agency in relation to these covenants? I must concede that although I am freely typing in this thread, God knew my action and knew when I'm done, I'll close my laptop and go about my business. But what I find problematic is that from a spiritual/metaphysical point of view whatever actions I commit in this life, were already done outside time/space (I saw outside time and space based on the foreknowledge of God knowing all actions and sequences outside our time and space).
I understand the Islamic view of decree in the sense of human capability, however the problem lies in the spiritual view that all actions were already determined and that God knows the eventual destination of all humans prior to them experiencing their reward and punishment. In God's mind, I have already performed my actions, and so as I exist, I'm merely playing out those actions, so again, how do I have free will knowing this?