No subject has been more warmly discussed in Islám than that of predestination. The following abstract of some lengthy discussions will present the points of difference.
The Ash'aríans, who in this matter represent in the main orthodox views, formulate their objections to the Mutazilite system thus:—
(i). If man is the causer of an action by the force of his own will, then he should also have the power of controlling the result of that action.
(ii). If it be granted that man has the power to originate
an act it is necessary that he should know all acts, because a creator should be independent in act and choice. Intention must be conditioned by knowledge. To this the Mutazilites well reply that a man need not know the length of a road before he walks, or the structure of the throat before he talks.
(iii). Suppose a man wills to move his body and God at the same time wills it to be steady, then if both intentions come to pass there will be a collection of opposites; if neither, a removal of opposites; if the exaltation of the first, an unreasonable preference.
(iv). If man can create an act, some of his works will be better than some of the works of God, e.g. a man determines to have faith: now faith is a better thing than reptiles, which are created by God.
(v). If man is free to act, why can he not make at once a human body; why does he need to thank God for grace and faith?
(vi). But better far than all argument, the orthodox say, is the testimony of the Book. "All things have we created under a fixed decree." (Súra liv. 49). "When God created you and that ye make." (Súra xxxvii. 94). "Some of them there were whom God guided and there were others decreed to err." (Súra xvi. 38). As God decrees faith and obedience He must be the causer of it, for "on the hearts of these hath God graven the Faith." (Súra lviii. 22). "It is he who causeth you to laugh and weep, to die and make alive." (Súra liii. 44). "If God pleased He would surely bring them, one and all, to the guidance." (Súra vi. 36). "Had God pleased, He had guided you all aright." (Súra vi. 150). "Had the Lord pleased, He would have made mankind of one religion." (Súra xi. 120). "God will mislead whom he pleaseth, and whom He pleaseth He will place upon the straight path." (Súra vi. 39.) Tradition records that the Prophet said: "God is the maker of all makers and of their actions."[[169]]