By Waqar Asrar and Waleed F. Faris
Abstract
The word Qaddara, Taqdeer and its various forms and shades of meanings have caused a great deal of confusion among Muslims. For the layman in many, if not most, cases the general understanding of the word has led to fatalism. All personal failures are blamed entirely upon Allah swt. Apathy, inactivity and most general malaise of this kind are rampant among Muslims. If queried – the general answer is – this is our fate. Perhaps the reason for this misunderstanding among the masses, lies in the sometimes faulty misconception and misunderstanding of these words among the scholars and translators of the Quran, as evidenced below.
The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the interpretation of Qaddra and its various shades of meaning in classical and contemporary tafasseer, as well as look at physical sciences to arrive at suggestions that may inshaAllah lead to a better understanding of these terms.