By Imam Yahya
Perhaps one of the most challenging subjects that believers deal with, and theologians have attempted to talk about is the issue of divine will and decree. I’ve had, I’m going to say dozens of people come to me, “Imam, I’m just having a hard time with something, and I need your help to understand something.” After we sit down, “What about predestination, and faith, and it seems like our belief says that, you know, He knows and this and that,” and they’re getting into philosophizing of it. There’s no room in Islamic theology from a creed standpoint to philosophize, we don’t have that. One of the great notions that a final messengership carries is that there is absolute clarity. There are Muhkamath and there are Muth As-shabihath in the Qur’an. There are clear, decisive teachings which will Shaf-i it will give you comfort, you will understand. There are things that it seems like it’s hard to grasp, a little bit, ambiguous, or allegorical perhaps, and so in this subject, both of those are there. The scholar said, “We take thee ayah or the hadith that seems to be problematic, or unclear, or allegorical, and we understand it under the understanding of the clear, decisive teachings of Islam.