The Holy War — Page 203
Proceedings—Debate 1 June 1893 203 Deputy sahib is to say that this verse proves compulsion in Islam. This is his misunderstanding. Actually, the Arabic word امر [ amr ] means command and governance; and this was the thought of some of those people who said that if only we had some sort of influence on the gov- erning of affairs, we would have employed such tactics as would have prevented the suffering that was faced at the Battle of Uhud. In reply to this Allah Almighty states: 1 ْلُق َّنِا َرْمَاْلا ٗهَّلُك ِهّٰلِل That is to say, ‘All affairs are in the control of Allah’. You should remain obedient to the Holy Prophet. Now, we should look at what this verse has to do with destiny. The question of some people only was that if our advice and consultation were to be taken then we would counsel against this, but Allah Almighty forbade them stating that this matter was not based on اجتهاد [ ijtih a d —human reasoning], but rather this was a commandment of Allah Almighty. Now, after this it should be made clear that تقدیر [ taqd i r ] only means to establish a measure; as Allah, the Lord of Glory, states: 2 Pt. 18 R. 16— َو َقَلَخ َّلُك ٍءْيَش ٗهَرَّدَقَف اًرْيِدْقَت ۰۰ Meaning that He created everything, and has ordained for it its proper measure. How is it proven from this that man is deprived of his free- doms? In fact, his freedoms have been included in the same measure that God Almighty ordained for man and his temperament, and this is what is given the name of Divine decree. And therein it is ordained that man can use his powers up to a certain limit. It is a great misunder- standing to think that the word taqd i r or destiny should be understood 1. S u rah A l ‘Imr a n, 3:155 [Publisher] 2. S u rah al-Furq a n, 25:3 [Publisher]