Jump to content

Divine Will

Add links
Priority: b, Quality: c
From wikishia

Divine Will (Arabic: الإرادة الإلهية) is one of the Positive Attributes of God, and God is called Murīd (the Willer). Muslim scholars disagree on the nature of God's will. According to al-Shaykh al-Mufid and Allama Tabataba'i, God's will in relation to Himself is His very act, while His will in relation to others is His command. However, the Mu'tazila and some Shi'a theologians have regarded God's will as a type of His Knowledge.

Will is divided into two categories: Generative Will (al-irāda al-takwīniyya) and Legislative Will (al-irāda al-tashrīʿiyya). Both Generative Will and Legislative Will are mentioned in Quranic verses.

Place

Will is one of the Attributes of God, and on this basis, God is called Murīd (the Willer).[1] In many Qur'anic verses, volition (mashīyya) and will (irāda) are attributed to God;[2] including "He punishes whom He wills and has mercy upon whom He wills"[3] and "Indeed, your Lord is an effecter of what He intends."[4]

Quiddity of Divine Will

Muslim theologians agree on the principle that God possesses Will, but they differ regarding its details and characteristics;[5] such as the quiddity of God's will, whether it is an Attribute of Essence or an Attribute of Action, and whether it is eternal (qadīm) or originated (ḥādith).[6]

According to al-Shaykh al-Mufid (d. 413/1022)[7] and Allama Tabataba'i (d. 1981), God's will regarding His own actions is His very action (Generative Will), and regarding the actions of other beings, it is His command for those actions (Legislative Will).[8] Accordingly, the statement "God willed to create man" simply means "God created man."[9] According to these two, Will is among the Attributes of Action.[10] Al-Shaykh al-Mufid considered this view to be consistent with the view of the Imams (a) and the majority of Imamiyya scholars.[11] Narrations have also been cited in this regard;[12] including a narration from Imam al-Sadiq (a) which calls God's volition (mashīyya) originated and non-eternal,[13] a narration from Imam al-Kazim (a) which introduces God's will as His very action,[14] and an expression from Imam al-Rida (a) in which volition and will are considered Attributes of Action.[15]

According to Allama Tabataba'i, the majority of philosophers, such as Mulla Sadra, have counted Will among the Attributes of Essence and identical to the Divine Essence.[16] Based on the famous view among Muslim philosophers, Generative Will is God's Knowledge of actions in accordance with the Best Order (the best possible world).[17] According to Allama Tabataba'i, defining Will as knowledge of the Best Order is incorrect and lacks proof.[18] The Mu'tazila and many Shi'a theologians believe that God's Generative Will is identical with His knowledge of acts that involve benefit (maṣlaḥa) for human beings and other creatures.[19] Therefore, this group counts Will among His Attributes of Essence.[20]

The Ash'ariyya believe that Will is distinct from Knowledge, Power, and other Attributes of Essence;[21] however, they regard it as an attribute that is either essential or additional to the Essence, yet eternal (qadīm).[22][23]

Difference between Will and Mashiyya

Main article: Mashiyya

It is said that many lexicographers and theologians consider mashīyya (volition) to mean irāda (will)[24] and believe that will and volition are one attribute. However, a group, noting that in the Qur'an mashīyya is used only in generative (takwīnī) matters, have considered mashīyya and irāda as two distinct divine attributes.[25] According to Makarim Shirazi, an examination of Qur'anic verses shows that the word irāda is used for both Generative Will and Legislative Will; whereas mashīyya is mostly used regarding creation and generative matters and is very rarely used regarding legislation.[26] In some narrations,[27] a differentiation and sequence are observed between mashīyya and irāda, indicating that mashīyya is not identical to irāda.[28]

Generative Will and Legislative Will

Main articles: Generative Will and Legislative Will

Divine Will is divided into Generative Will (al-irāda al-takwīniyya) and Legislative Will (al-irāda al-tashrīʿiyya).[29] Generative Will means the bringing into existence of the object of will in the external world without the mediation of another will, such as God's will in creating the world or a person's will to eat or drink.[30] According to Ja'far Subhani, if the Divine Will attaches to the coming into existence of something, it is called Generative Will.[31] Legislative Will is when one wills that another person perform an act by his own free choice; such as God's Legislative Will for His servants to perform obligatory acts and acts of worship, or a person's will that his child or servant performs an act without compulsion.[32] In other words, the will of the legislator or Lawgiver (Shāriʿ) regarding the performance of an action by the religiously accountable (mukallaf) through their own choice is called Legislative Will.[33]

Regarding the difference between Generative and Legislative Will, it is said that the object of Generative Will is the action of the willer himself, but the object of Legislative Will is the action of another person.[34] In God's Generative Will, whatever is willed necessarily occurs; but in Legislative Will, violation is possible.[35] Unlike Generative Will, Legislative Will applies only to voluntary actions.[36]

Both Generative and Legislative Will are reflected in numerous Qur'anic verses.[37] The will mentioned in verses such as Qur'an 4:82,[38] Qur'an 33:33 (Verse of Purification),[39] Qur'an 5:41,[40] Qur'an 28:5[41] and Qur'an 8:7[42] is considered Generative Will. The will mentioned in Qur'an 2:185,[43] the first and sixth verses of Qur'an 5 (Sura al-Ma'ida)[44] and the seventh verse of Qur'an 8,[45] is considered Legislative Will.

See Also

Notes

  1. ↑ Rabbānī Gulpāyigānī, ʿAqāʾid-i istidlālī, p. 131.
  2. ↑ Rabbānī Gulpāyigānī, ʿAqāʾid-i istidlālī, p. 131.
  3. ↑ Qur'an, 29:21.
  4. ↑ Qur'an, 11:107.
  5. ↑ Saʿīdī-Mihr, Āmūzish-i kalām-i Islāmī, vol. 2, p. 247.
  6. ↑ Saʿīdī-Mihr, Āmūzish-i kalām-i Islāmī, vol. 2, p. 247.
  7. ↑ Mufīd, Awāʾil al-maqālāt, p. 53.
  8. ↑ Rabbānī Gulpāyigānī, ʿAqāʾid-i istidlālī, p. 132.
  9. ↑ Subḥānī, ʿAqāʾid-i Islāmī dar partaw-i Qurʾān, ḥadīth wa ʿaql, p. 217.
  10. ↑ Ṭabāṭabāʾī, Nihāyat al-ḥikma, pp. 362, 364; Ḥasan-Baygī, Irāday-i Ilāh, p. 107.
  11. ↑ Mufīd, Awāʾil al-maqālāt, p. 53.
  12. ↑ Rabbānī Gulpāyigānī, ʿAqāʾid-i istidlālī, pp. 135-136.
  13. ↑ Ṣadūq, al-Tawḥīd, p. 147.
  14. ↑ Ṣadūq, al-Tawḥīd, p. 147.
  15. ↑ Ṣadūq, al-Tawḥīd, p. 338.
  16. ↑ Ṭabāṭabāʾī, Nihāyat al-ḥikma, p. 371.
  17. ↑ Saʿīdī-Mihr, Āmūzish-i kalām-i Islāmī, vol. 2, p. 250; Ṭabāṭabāʾī, Nihāyat al-ḥikma, pp. 361-362; Rabbānī Gulpāyigānī, ʿAqāʾid-i istidlālī, p. 132.
  18. ↑ Ṭabāṭabāʾī, Nihāyat al-ḥikma, pp. 362-363.
  19. ↑ Rabbānī Gulpāyigānī, ʿAqāʾid-i istidlālī, p. 132.
  20. ↑ Ḥasan-Baygī, Irāday-i Ilāhī, p. 107.
  21. ↑ Rabbānī Gulpāyigānī, ʿAqāʾid-i istidlālī, p. 132.
  22. ↑ Saʿīdī-Mihr, Āmūzish-i kalām-i Islāmī, vol. 2, p. 251.
  23. ↑ Rabbānī Gulpāyigānī, ʿAqāʾid-i istidlālī, p. 132.
  24. ↑ Makārim Shīrāzī, Payām-i Qurʾān, vol. 4, p. 156.
  25. ↑ Rabbānī Gulpāyigānī, ʿAqāʾid-i istidlālī, p. 131.
  26. ↑ Makārim Shīrāzī, Payām-i Qurʾān, vol. 4, pp. 164, 169.
  27. ↑ Kulaynī, al-Kāfī, vol. 1, p. 148.
  28. ↑ Makārim Shīrāzī, Payām-i Qurʾān, vol. 4, p. 156.
  29. ↑ Subḥānī, al-Ilāhiyyāt, vol. 4, p. 126.
  30. ↑ Mishkīnī, Iṣṭilāḥāt al-uṣūl, p. 29.
  31. ↑ Subḥānī, al-Ilāhiyyāt, vol. 4, p. 126.
  32. ↑ Mishkīnī, Iṣṭilāḥāt al-uṣūl, p. 29; Mūsawī Bujnūrdī, Muntahā al-uṣūl, vol. 1, p. 182.
  33. ↑ Markaz-i Iṭṭilāʿāt wa Manābiʿ-i Islāmī, Farhangnāmay-i uṣūl-i fiqh, p. 142.
  34. ↑ Mūsawī Bujnūrdī, Muntahā al-uṣūl, vol. 1, p. 183.
  35. ↑ Mishkīnī, Iṣṭilāḥāt al-uṣūl, p. 29; Mūsawī Bujnūrdī, Muntahā al-uṣūl, vol. 1, pp. 182-183.
  36. ↑ Mūsawī Bujnūrdī, Muntahā al-uṣūl, vol. 1, p. 183.
  37. ↑ Makārim Shīrāzī, Payām-i Qurʾān, vol. 4, pp. 153, 169.
  38. ↑ Makārim Shīrāzī, Āyāt-i wilāyat dar Qurʾān, p. 157.
  39. ↑ Subḥānī, al-Ilāhiyyāt, vol. 4, p. 126; Makārim Shīrāzī, Tafsīr-i nimūna, vol. 17, pp. 292, 303.
  40. ↑ Subḥānī, al-Ilāhiyyāt, vol. 4, p. 128.
  41. ↑ Subḥānī, al-Ilāhiyyāt, vol. 4, p. 128.
  42. ↑ Subḥānī, al-Ilāhiyyāt, vol. 4, p. 128.
  43. ↑ Makārim Shīrāzī, Payām-i Qurʾān, vol. 4, p. 161.
  44. ↑ Makārim Shīrāzī, Payām-i Qurʾān, vol. 4, pp. 161, 162; Subḥānī, al-Ilāhiyyāt, vol. 4, p. 126.
  45. ↑ Makārim Shīrāzī, Tafsīr-i nimūna, vol. 7, p. 101.

References

  • Ḥasan-Baygī, ʿAlī. Irāday-i Ilāhī Kalām-i Islāmī. No. 50. 1383 Sh.
  • Kulaynī, Muḥammad b. Yaʿqūb al-. Al-Kāfī. Tehran: Islāmiyya Publications, 1362 Sh.
  • Makārim Shīrāzī, Nāṣir. Āyāt-i wilāyat dar Qurʾān. Qom: Madrasa-yi Imām ʿAlī b. Abī Ṭālib, 1386 Sh.
  • Makārim Shīrāzī, Nāṣir. Payām-i Qurʾān. Tehran: Dār al-Kutub al-Islāmiyya, 9th ed., 1386 Sh.
  • Makārim Shīrāzī, Nāṣir. Tafsīr-i nimūna. Tehran: Dār al-Kutub al-Islāmiyya, 1371 Sh.
  • Markaz-i Iṭṭilāʿāt wa Manābiʿ-i Islāmī. Farhangnāmay-i uṣūl-i fiqh. Qom: Daftar-i Tablīghāt-i Islāmī-yi Ḥawza-yi ʿIlmiyya-yi Qom, 1389 Sh.
  • Mishkīnī, ʿAlī. Iṣṭilāḥāt al-uṣūl. Qom: Daftar-i Nashr-i Hādī, 1371 Sh.
  • Mufīd, Muḥammad b. Muḥammad b. Nuʿmān al-. Awāʾil al-maqālāt fī l-madhāhib wa l-mukhtārāt. Qom: al-Muʾtamar al-ʿĀlamī lil-Shaykh al-Mufīd, 1st ed., 1413 AH.
  • Mūsawī Bujnūrdī, Ḥasan. Muntahā al-uṣūl. Tehran: Muʾassisa-yi ʿUrūj, 1380 Sh.
  • Rabbānī Gulpāyigānī, ʿAlī. ʿAqāʾid-i istidlālī. Qom: Markaz-i Nashr-i Hājar, 4th ed., 1392 Sh.

Research Institute for Islamic Culture and Thought. “Kitāb-i ʿilm wa irāday-i Ilāhī.” Posted: 8 August 2015. Accessed: 20 December 2020.* Ṣadūq, Muḥammad b. ʿAlī al-. Al-Tawḥīd. Edited by Hāshim Ḥusaynī. Qom: Jāmiʿa-yi Mudarrisīn, 1st ed., 1398 AH.

  • Saʿīdī-Mihr, Muḥammad. Āmūzish-i kalām-i Islāmī (Rāhnamā-shināsī - Maʿād-shināsī). Qom: Kitāb-i Ṭāhā, 6th ed., 1388 Sh.
  • Subḥānī, Jaʿfar. Al-Ilāhiyyāt ʿalā hudā l-kitāb wa l-sunna wa l-ʿaql. Qom: al-Markaz al-ʿĀlamī lil-Dirāsāt al-Islāmiyya, 3rd ed., 1412 AH.
  • Subḥānī, Jaʿfar. ʿAqāʾid-i Islāmī dar partaw-i Qurʾān, ḥadīth wa ʿaql. Qom: Muʾassisa-yi Būstān-i Kitāb, 2nd ed., 1386 Sh.
  • Ṭabāṭabāʾī, Sayyid Muḥammad Ḥusayn. Nihāyat al-ḥikma. Edited by ʿAbbās ʿAlī Zāriʿī Sabziwārī. Qom: Daftar-i Intishārāt-i Islāmī, n.d.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikishia.net/w/index.php?title=Divine_Will&oldid=209176"