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Al-Qadr is the concept that Allah knows everything and has already decided everything that will happen. This is called predestination.

Al-Qadr is linked to the six beliefs of Sunni Islam. This is because it shows that Allah is omniscient, meaning ‘knowing everything’, and omnipotent, meaning ‘having unlimited power.’ In the Hadith, Ali speaks of predestination:

There is not one amongst you who has not been allotted his seat in Paradise or Hell. They said: Allah’s messenger, then why should we perform good deeds, why not depend upon our destiny? Thereupon he said, no, do perform good deeds, for everyone is facilitated in that for which he has been created.Sahih Muslim 2647

Although al-Qadr is a key belief within Islam . Muslims believe that nothing can happen without the will of Allah. However, Al-Qadr does not mean that the choices people make are not free choices. Instead, it means that Allah knows what choices people are going to make before they are made.

There is evidence of al-Qadr in the Qur’an: The Lord has created and balanced all things and has fixed their destinies and guided them. (Qur’an 87:2)

The belief in free will is essential in Islam. This is because, for Muslims, life is a test from Allah. Therefore, all human beings must make their own decisions, and they will be judged on those decisions by Allah. On the Day of Judgement, God will reward those who have had faith and done good deeds and punish those who have not. So, God judges people on their choices, not on the destiny already decided for them. The Qur’an confirms this:

Whoever does righteousness – it is for his [own] soul; and whoever does evil [does so] against it. And your Lord is not ever unjust to [his] servants.Qur’an 41:46

Muslims use the term ‘insha’Allah’ frequently in conversation to express belief in al-Qadr. Insha’Allah means ‘if God is willing’ or ‘if God wills it to be so’.

By reading Surah al-Mulk and its meaning, we also help ourselves to realign our focus. Perhaps as we were going about our tasks throughout the day, we became distracted from our ultimate purpose. Dedicating a moment before we sleep at night to read this Surah will help us to remember why we are actually in this world.

nafs-ul-ammarah.

 إِنَّ النَّفْسَ لَأَمَّارَةٌ بِالسُّوءِ

 Indeed the nafs that overwhelmingly commands a person to do sin.[12:53]

So this refers to that nafs, that is ruling over the self. This means that the nafs commands us and tells us what to do. So when the nafs has any desire, any wish, any appetite, it simply commands us, it dominates us. It is that nafs which is sovereign over a human being, it has sovereignty over us. What it means is that the nafs is sovereign over us, if it is Ammarah, it means we are subjugated by it, we are sub-ordinate to it, we listen and follow all of its dictates and commands. So this is the first type of nafs and the sign that a person has this type of nafs is that they sin willingly, blatantly, remorselessly, in any way that they ever want.

And if we think about it, in many places in the west, this concept is actually glorified because people say ”you should do whatever makes you happy, do whatever pleases you, do whatever your heart desires”. They may glamorize that by saying that it’s the heart but actually there are many people, whether in east or west, even muslims now, that are doing what our passion desires. So that means that we have a nafs-ul-ammarah.

What does Islam mean?

In Arabic, Islam (Arabic: إسلام‎, "submission [to God]") is the verbal noun originating from the verb سلم (salama), from triliteral root س-ل-م (S-L-M), which forms a large class of words mostly relating to concepts of wholeness, submission, sincerity, safeness, and peace. Islam is the verbal noun of the root, and means "submission" or "total surrender". In a religious context, it means "total surrender to the will of God".

The visible formulations of Islam are therefore both enlivened by the spiritual and moral force behind them, and so they are the manifestations of this force and at the same time they are the means of attaining these spiritual and moral qualities; this can be said to constitute their main purpose. Thus these two aspects of Islam are mutually generative, each one producing the other. It can be seen from the Word of Allah, the Qur'an, that wherever something concerning man's outward actions is decreed, its inward content and purpose is also stressed. Take Prayer for instance. Allah says: "Observe Prayer for my remembrance" (20:14); or "The believers have attained success; who are lowly in their prayers" (23:1, 2), emphasising that the object of Prayer is not the mere outward performance, but to remember Him with a humble heart. In the case of fasting Allah says: "Fasting has been decreed for you, as it was decreed for those who came before you, that you may be God-fearing" (2:183). Regarding sacrifice on the occasion of Pilgrimage (Hajj), He says: "It is not their blood or their flesh which reaches Him, but the devotion from you" (22:37). On the subject of marriage: "It is one of His signs that He has made for you mates of your own kind that you may find peace in them, and He has created affection and kindness between you" (30:21). On spending for the poor: "They (the righteous) give food to the needy, the orphan and the prisoner, for the love of Him. They

say: We feed for the sake of Allah only, and desire no reward or thanks from you" (76:8, 9). If we reflect on these and other similar indications in the Qur'an, we are led to the conclusion that if it is necessary to develop within ourselves those qualities which are their soul; that these two are complementary and one cannot exist in a sound state without the other. When the word Shariat is used, one immediately calls to mind the basic beliefs of Islam, without which a person cannot be reckoned a Muslim, and the external decrees comprising forms of worship, rules of behaviour and civil and criminal laws. In short it is the outwardness of Islam which is normally referred to by this term. But we have seen that within this outer Shariat there exists an inner Shariat of equal importance, which constitutes both its inspiration and its goal. Like the word "Ilm" (Knowledge) which originally comprised both the inward realisation of divine truths as well as outward knowledge of Islamic tenets, the term "Shariat" (the road) should really include the devotion of the heart to Allah as well as specific beliefs, and the attainment of moral excellence as well as submission to the law. But just as "Ilm" came to mean only book knowledge, so "Shariat" came to mean only the law; as a result, the Sufis, the devotees of the spirit of Islam, began to use the word Ma'rifat' for inner relationship with God, and in place of the word "Shariat" they chose the word Tariqat (the path) to

denote the way to spiritual perfection. Just as the outer "Shariat" consists of two parts, belief and practice, so also does the inner "Shariat" manifest itself in two main fields.

Tasawwuf can be called the inwardness of Islam. Islam, like most other faiths, to a greater or lesser extent consists firstly of certain beliefs, such as the existence of God, the coming of the Judgement, reward and punishment in the next life, and the outward expression of these beliefs in forms of worship, such as prayer and fasting, all of which are concerned with man's relationship to God. Secondly, it consists of a system of morality which concerns man's relationship with man, and has its outward expression in certain social institutions and laws, such as marriage, inheritance, civil and criminal laws. But it is obvious that the basis of

this faith, the spirit that gives it life, is man's relationship with God. Forms of worship are simply the physical vehicles of this relationship, and it is this relationship again which is responsible for the origin, the significance and the ultimate sanction of the principles of morality and their formulation into a specific social and legal system. If the interior converse with the Supreme Being and inspiration from Him are present, then they are comparable to the soul within the body of the exterior religion; if they die away, or in proportion to the extent they wither or become feeble, the outward form of the faith becomes like a soul-less body, which by the

inexorable law of nature swiftly succumbs to corruption. It is therefore man's direct relationship with his Maker which is the breath and life of religion, and it is the study and cultivation of this relationship that the word Tasawwuf connotes.

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