On this thread I will research the understanding of Allah's Will 'Yasha' as used in the Quran. Most people read verses as 'if Allah Wills it', and then project their human understanding of 'willing something' unto Allah. The Human Will is subject to whims and emotions, controlled by it needs and wishes.
How can Allah's Will have the same definition as He is without any Need?
6:14 Say, “Shall I take for my master other than Allah Who is the Initiator of the heavens and the earth? And He provides all without return. Feeds but is not fed....
4:131 And to Allah belong all things in the Highs and all things in the Lows. We directed those who received the Scripture before you, and We direct you to be mindful of Allah’s Laws (so that your society operates as smoothly as the Universe is operating). And if you reject the Truth, know that all things in the heavens and all things in the earth belong to Allah. Allah is Self-Sufficient, Owner of Praise.
Human Will is guided by Need, and is expressed through the filter of emotions, instinct and charachter of the person. This is the Will we know and understand. This is our definition of Will. But how does Will work with Allah how has no need, emotions, instincts or human psyche?
How can we form the right definition of the Divine Will? This is again one of the reasons why the Quran was revealed. To explain to us how the Will of Allah differs from human will and how it works in the Creation.
Here is a small introduction. One person at a forum asked me why I translated 'yasha' with Laws instead of Will:
Where does it say in the original arabic of the verse what you mistranslated in the underlined portion ?
6:111 Even if We caused the angels to descend to them, and the dead to speak to them, and We lined up all the miracles before them, they would not believe. People can be guided only according to Allah’s Laws, but most of them choose the way of ignorance.
First examine the proof:
2:284 To Allah belong all things in the heavens and all things in the earth. Whether you reveal or conceal your intentions and actions, Allah will bring you to account. He will forgive whom He wills/yasha and pusnishes whom He wills/yasha [He has appointed Laws of forgiveness and retribution]. Allah has Power over all things and events and He has appointed due measure for everything. (Laws for forgiveness: 3:31, 8:29, 33:70-71, 57:28, 61:11-12, 64:17, 71:3)
Ok, does Allah punish only by His Will? Or through the Laws He has given us in the Quran? Of course Allah can do what He wants, but He promises certain things to us. Will a believer be punished by Allah, even though the believer has done everything Allah has decreed in the Quran?
Allah says this in the Quran:
48:5 Thus He will admit the believing men and the believing women into
Gardens beneath which rivers flow, wherein they shall abide. And He will
absolve their faults and imperfections. And that is, with Allah, the Supreme
Triumph. (11:115).
And:
28:84 Anyone who brings actions that benefited others, the reward to him is better than what he has done. And anyone who is unfair in his dealings with others, such will be punished, but not more than the like of what they have done.
People were punished because they went against Allah's Law of human conduct.
His Will is expressed for example in these Laws:
3:31 Say (O Messenger), “If you love Allah, follow me; Allah will love you and preserve your 'Self'. He will save you from trailing behind in humanity and in the community of nations. For, Allah is Most Protecting, Full of Grace (causing benevolent actions to flourish)."
33:70 O’ You who have chosen to be graced with belief! Be mindful of Allah and speak words straight to the point.
7:180 All Names of Allah are the fairest names. You can invoke Him by any of them. Be mindful not to over-emphasize a single attribute of His. (For example, the Merciful God is also a Just God). Disregard those who distort His Names or the meaning of His Attributes (like calling Him, father, son, the man upstairs, the destroyer etc.) Be assured that all of you will be rewarded according to your doings, and by no other criterion.
Blasphemy the name = will cause punishment=is a Law. Who Allah punishes is determined by the Laws. Thus His Laws are expressing His Will.
Being mindfull of Allah and speak words of Truth and straightness=reward and forgiveness=His Law expressing His Will.
This is a promise. So Allah's Will is bound to His Promises. If I follow His Laws, He must reward me, as this is His Promise. So His Will follows His Laws and thus His Laws are His Will.
Allah's Will is shown through His Laws, so going against those Laws, is going against Allah's Will, which will end up in requital as Allah's Will is that we grow and develope our Self's. This can only be done through following His Laws.
Another one given in the traditional translation, Progressive Muslim translation:
30:48 God Who sends the winds, so they raise clouds, and He spreads them in the sky as He wishes/yasha, then He turns them into joined pieces, then you see the rain drops come forth from their midst. Then when He makes them fall on whomever He wills/yasha of His servants, they rejoice!
We know that the workings of the weather is formed by laws. Clouds follow airdensity and are pushed by the factors that are determined by heat and cold air which cause the movement. Heat and cold are determined by the sun, and the sun has a fixed amount of heat outburst as the earth rotates, also every area on earth is only exposed to the earth determined by its position.
Is this movement of the clouds determined by randomn will or by laws that were determined before the creation of the Universe? Does Allah just push a cloud to where He wills? No, we can predict the weather as far as we can follow the factors involved. That weather-prediction is not accurate is because we cannot follow all factors that control the airflows. There are to many factors. But we can see a consistent reaction to factors. With heat, air will rise, it will not come down. When a area has less density of air, wind will be produced, as the less density will suck up air from denser area´s. There is consistency in these behaviour of nature. This is why Allah says we must observe them:
2:164 (Never does Allah propose blind faith.) Behold, there are ample Signs In the creation of the Heavens and the Earth, and the alternation of the night and the day - and the ships that roam the ocean for the benefit of mankind - and the water that Allah sends down from the sky, thereby giving life to the land after it had been lifeless - and in dispersing a great variety of creatures therein - and in the currents of winds - and the clouds subservient between the high atmosphere and the Earth. All these are clear Signs for those who exercise their intellect. (The Universe is too organized to be the result of an accident 6:73.)
30:46 And of His Signs is this: He sends forth the winds that bear glad tiding, so that He might give you a taste of His Grace. And that ships might sail at His Command and so that you might.
So the verse must be translated as such:
30:48 (Divine Guidance is a blessing for humanity just as) it is Allah Who sends forth the winds that raise clouds, and then spreads them along the high atmosphere according to His Laws. And causes them to pile up and then break and you see the rain pouring down from within them. And when He makes it to fall on His servants by His Laws, behold, they rejoice.
Also this one:
42:49 To Allah belongs the Dominion of the heavens and the earth. He creates and designs all things according to His Yasha/Will/Laws. He bestows the gift of daughters according to His Yasha/Will/Laws and the gift of sons according to His Yasha/Will/Laws.
A boy or a girl is determind by an Y or X chromosome. The spermcell that makes it first to the femalecell, is that random will or is that determined by Laws? Well why do you think you ejeculate 100.000's of spermcells? Because one will have the correct position and path to reach the femalecell first. It is determined by the conditions the spermcell is in, which determines if it is first or not. And which conditions are the ones that will make a spermcell be first, were already determined in the Laws of nature. Laws that determine what is needed to make a spermcell quick or slow.
So what is Allah's Will here then? Is it not the Laws that determine the best position of a spermcell? Why a spermcell is first, is always determined by certain factors. When a runner wins a marathon, is it because of certain factors, or because random will, or is there a pattern to be found in why somebody wins or loses?
3:6 He it is Who shapes you in the wombs according to His Laws. There is no god but He. He is the Almighty, the Wise. (He uses his Power with wisdom and His Rule is the Rule of Law).
How are foetusses shaped? What determines this? Is this not the factors involved? The food the mom eats. How much she rests. If she bumps the stomach or not. The genes the baby has? Are those genes not determined by the sperm and egg cells genes, and in which conditions the egg and sperm were created and and in which conditions they have merged their genes in?
Do these procedures follow random processes or fixed processes? Are these not determined by Laws of the Universe? What does the Quran say about forming of humans in the womb:
22:5 O Mankind! If you are in doubt that humanity will one day stand at its feet, and that you will be resurrected back to life after death, consider the process of your own evolution. We have created you in stages: From dust, then from male and female gametes, then from a zygote, then from an embryo, shapely and first shapeless. We thus clearly explain things for you. The embryo and then the fetus stay in the womb until an appointed term according to Our Laws. Then We bring you forth as infants and carry you to maturity. While some of you die young, others live to the feeblest old age so that they know nothing after knowing much. (Resurgence of humanity can take place just as) you, O Prophet, see a dry barren land, but when We send down water on it, it vibrates with life and grows all kinds of beautiful plants.
As you can see it follows precise Laws, and thus the Laws resemble Allah's Will.
So what is Allah's Will? Is it random tampering with the creation? I believe not, Allah says we must look at the creation, investigate it. Why investigate it if it follows random processes? No, we must investigate them as understanding these laws and following them is following Allah's Will. It is the Laws that He has determined when creating the Universe. All must follow these Laws. When they follow these Laws, they are following Allah's Will. When we follow the Quran, we are following Allah's Will. Now, you will understand why to translate and understand Yasha with 'Laws' or 'Due Measure', as indeed 'yasha' means Will, but the Will of Allah are expressed in His Laws of the Universe.
It cannot be compared to the random human will that is controlled and guided by need and emotions. Allah's Will already has a fixed Goal and will not deviate from this goal. His Will is not guided by need or emotions. He has a fixed Outcome for us, and uses thus fixed Laws to guide us too this Goal. This is Allah's Will as can be seen through His Laws.
Allah will not deviate from His Laws and Goal:
33:62 That was the Way of Allah among those who lived before. And never will you find any change in Allah’s Way. (The Divine Laws in the Universe never change, and the Law of Requital never fails to requite).
If you believe a thing or not, is determined by Laws that control your psyche. Allah's Laws, thus Allah's Will. As these Laws and how you interact with them decide if you believe or not.
6:56 Say, “I am forbidden to worship and obey on whom you call instead of Allah.” Say, “I will not follow your desires, otherwise I will go astray and not be among the rightly guided.”
To be guided is determined by how well you follow the Laws of your psyche. Not by a random will of Allah as if His Will is run by whims and emotions. Our psyche will see the Truth through following Laws and will be blocked in seeing the Truth by going against those Laws:
6:82 Those who attain belief and cloak not their belief with wrong doctrines, for them is inner peace and security. They are rightly guided.
2:142 Men of little understanding say, “What has turned them from the Direction that people formerly observed? Say, “Unto Allah belong the East and the West.” He has Yasha shown the Straight Path to him who wills to follow it.”
They ask: 'Why did they change their Qibla?'. Our reply is: 'It is through God's Yasha'. So what is His Will? Well He says 2 verses later:
2:144 We have seen your eagerness (O Messenger), therefore, We shall now make you turn to a Qiblah that is dear to you. Hence, turn your whole being focused on the Sanctified Masjid. And all of you believers, wherever you may be, turn your whole being focused toward it. Behold! Those who have been given the Scripture before know that this is the Truth from their Lord. And Allah is not unaware of what they do.
Allah shows us His Will, through His Laws He gives us in the Quran.
3:13 (Only recently at Badr), there was a Sign for you in the two armies that met in combat. One was fighting in the Cause of Allah, the other denying Him. With their own eyes the two armies saw each other as twice their number. (The believers in their motivation saw the manifold enemy just twice their own numbers, while the deniers saw the smaller opponents twice the size they actually were). But Allah strengthens people with His support according to His Yasha/Will/Laws. (Allah helps those who help themselves). This must be a lesson for people of vision for all times.
Is victory attained through random will or through fixed Laws? It is of course the factors that comply to the Laws that will gain the victory. This is why Allah says:
4:71 O You who have chosen to be graced with belief! Be fully prepared against danger. You shall remain alert to meet aggression. Take your precautions then mobilize in groups or all together as determined by your commander.
8:60 Make ready for them all the power you can muster, and all the equipment you can mobilize so that you may deter the enemies of Allah, and your enemies. And others beside them whom you know not, Allah knows them. Whatever wealth and effort you spend on your defenses, will be your spending in the Cause of Allah, and it will be repaid to you generously. And you shall not be wronged.
It is through good preparation and equipment and good men that decide a war's outcome. This is Allah's Will that is shown through His Laws. A true believer will always try to follow Allah's Laws. Allah promises us victory, but only when we follow His Laws that are in the Quran and in Nature.
People who project the Human definition of Will unto Allah, will see it as random Will, not following fixed Laws and not having a fixed Goal.
They misunderstand Allah's Will by believing Allah's Mercy is random, and is received through intervention of Allah:
36:47 And when it is said to them, “Spend on others of the provision Allah has given to you”, the rejecters say to the believers, “Shall we feed anyone whom Allah could have fed if He so willed? You people are obviously lost in error.” (6:149, 16:35, 43:20).
They don't understand that feeding the poor is a Law of Allah, and through that Law His Will is expressed:
22:36...and feed the contented poor who beg not as well as the poor who ask....
When people believe Allah's Will does not follow fixed Laws, they neglect His Laws as given in the Quran. They also reject the notion that Allah has a fixed Goal for our excistence.
1:3 He is the Absolute Owner of the Day when all creation shall have completed their journey of existence, evolution and action to the Ultimate Just outcome. And He is the Supreme Appointer of the Way of Life that mankind may live by in order to attain success in both lives - and this System will most certainly prevail in this world. The Divine Law of Returns takes mankind to the Day of Final Judgment in His Court to account for all they did with the gift of life. This is a Day whose advent is beyond any doubt.
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11:119 Except those on whom your Lord will bestow His Grace (for working toward the Noble Objective of unity). And for this He created them. Those who defy (this Command) will fulfill the Word of your Lord, “Verily, I shall fill Hell with the nomad and urban mankind all together."
So Allah's Will is expressed in His Laws. Thus Allah's Yasha/Will is equal to His Laws as they guide us to His intended Goal, His Deen. This is a fixed Outcome, and thus follows fixed Laws.