The amount of freedom we actually have is much more limited than we perhaps realize. Let’s start with simple examples that we can all understand, things that concern our physical bodies. How much freedom do we have over yawning, or sneezing…

For freewill or choice to exist there has to be another option other than following our base desires. There literally has to be something else to choose. That something else is voluntarily submitting to the will of Allah and exercising the choice and determination to overcome our own will to do what is better.

We should think, plan and make the right choices, but, if sometimes things do not turn out the way we want, we need not lose hope or get depressed. We should pray to God and try again. If in the end we still do not achieve what we wanted, we should know we have tried our best and are not responsible for the results.

How we get to act on free will while at the same time remaining bound to fate is known only to God. God, in His Infinite Wisdom, can maintain this duality. We ought to have faith in both. The knowledge of free will and its consequences makes us accountable…

If Allah had willed, he could have created humanity as one community united by a single frame of mind. This is how He created the angels. They all obey Allah with single-minded and unquestioning devotion. However, Allah decided to endow humanity with free will…

Familiar. Convenient. Connected. The world would feel a lot different if it had only one religion. Religions are estimated to be in the thousands, making it daunting to have to consider one. However, our world must perforce allow for the existence of many religions. Here are the reasons why.

Evil is like one of the twins, the other being good, as good on earth is ironically linked to evil. Because, good in this world cannot exist without bad, as they are two sides of the same coin, and both are relative concepts. For instance, to rescue a drowning man is good work…

In the West, two powers are rising: Islam and atheism. These two worldviews are at odds with each other, where atheism claims to be progressive and based on pure logic with God having no part in it, Islam claims to be relevant and reasonable with God as the driving force for all that exists.

When we speak of the will of God, there are two aspects to it. One is the aspect of what He brings about in Creation – what He decrees in His infinite wisdom to take place. The other is what He commands of us to carry out of our own free will and what He is pleased with.

The answer is simple. The fact that it is written, does not mean we are aware of it. It only means that Allah is aware of what we will do, but is not compelling us to do it. Among Muslims there are those who believe we do not have a choice or freewill…