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Originally Posted by ToBeFair
It is truly baffling that someone who has opened a purely spiritual thread about the benefits of doing dhikr (remembrance of God), presumably believing in the ritual of dhikr and its benefits, suddenly makes a complete U-turn and starts posting tonmoy like questions, ranging from the point of asking from God to God’s distribution of His provision among His creation and His predestination.
I have given the benefit of doubt and responded, but know that if you truly want to learn your religion, you have put some effort and a random answer at a random forum will not satisfy you. Even to find the truth, you have to work and search for it. Read books, go to a seminary, sit with scholars, watch lectures on YouTube – do something!
First, note that whatever God has decreed for you, will surely reach you, and whatever God has not decreed for you, will never reach you.
The difference between someone who asks from God and someone who does not ask from God is the essential difference between a Muslim and a non-Muslim. The purpose behind the creation of humans and jinns was the worship of God, as God has stated in the Quran, and the essence of worshipping God is to ask from Him and seek His help. In many verses in the Quran, God has clubbed together or even equalized calling upon Him with worshipping Him. In the very opening surah, Surah Al-Fatiha, we say:
It is You we worship and You we ask for help [The Noble Quran 1:5]
As you see, in the very opening chapter, God is teaching us that worshipping Him and seeking help from Him or calling upon Him goes hand in hand.
In Surah Ghafir, God said:
And your Lord says, "Call upon Me; I will respond to you." Indeed, those who disdain My worship will enter Hell [rendered] contemptible. [The Noble Quran 40:60]
In the first part of the verse, God instructed us to call upon Him. In the second part, He used the term worship – here God has equalized calling upon Him with worship. Through asking from God, you show your servitude and humility to Him, and by not asking from Him, you show your arrogance to Him, even though you are always dependent on Him.
As for the question of what is the point of asking if everything is pre-destined, do not venture into this philosophical point. The point is, God knows the predestination and you do not know. The test on your part is to have the best thought about God, have good expectation of Him, have true reliance upon Him (tawakkul), and call upon Him, with patience, humility, and persistence. Thus, do your part, show your servitude, and leave the rest to God. If you do your part, surely, God will do His and respond in a manner He sees fit.
You ask because creation is always in need of God. God definitely holds the power to perfect the imperfect, but no one can force God to do anything. We ask, but that does not mean God is obliged to respond exactly how we want the response to come. As said before, God responds to every call of His slave, but the response comes in one of three different ways (1) He gives what you ask Him – either immediately or at a delayed time (2) He does not give you what you want but removes an equivalent amount of harm from your life (3) He does not give (1) and (2) but rather reciprocates you on the Day of Judgement.
This is a wrong assertion and a non-Islamic worldview. Nothing is within our capacity, even if we think so. Every blessing in our life is from God and not our own achievement. Have you not seen that two patients with same the disease take the same medicine, yet one is cured and the other dies? Have you not seen two human beings with same brain, same physical features, and same socio-economic background, and yet one turns out to be a brilliant scientist and the other fails to go beyond high school? Thus, a Muslim seeks God’s help first and foremost for everything, and the Prophet (S) instructed to seek God’s help even before mending our shoe laces.
God’s distribution of provision on this world is not related to how much someone worships Him. Provision includes time, money, health, wealth, power, and each and every blessing. He distributes His provision as He sees fit. He gives as He wills, and He withholds as He will. He has the complete knowledge of everything and He is the most just, and your heart must find solace from this fact, if you are a Muslim. Questioning God’s distribution of provision or being unhappy about it equals to questioning the justice of God and His predestination, and it is a sin of the heart that must be treated with proper knowledge.
Also the difference in distribution of provision is part of the test of living in this world. God said:
And do not extend your eyes toward that by which We have given enjoyment to [some] categories of them, [its being but] the splendor of worldly life by which We test them. And the provision of your Lord is better and more enduring. [The Noble Quran 20:131]
And it is He who has made you successors upon the earth and has raised some of you above others in degrees [of rank] that He may test you through what He has given you. Indeed, your Lord is swift in penalty; but indeed, He is Forgiving and Merciful. [The Noble Quran 6:165]
You will surely be tested in your possessions and in yourselves. [The Noble Quran 2:186]
Definitely, God predestined power (as part of His provision) for them, and thus Putin and Trump are in power today.
If you are too impatient and unwilling to accept the premise of being rewarded or punished in the hereafter, you need have a deep look inside and think why you are a Muslim in the first place. A fundamental pillar of Islamic faith (eeman) is believing in Paradise and Hell. It is our belief that this world is not everything. This world is only a place of test – and the real abode is the next – and if you are too impatient to accept this fact – then it is your own personal problem – and it will not change the reality – this world will never become paradise.
Having said so, many reasons can be quoted from Islamic sources explaining why God gives abundantly to non-believing servants of Him. Few are:
1. God is Ar-Rahman – the most merciful. As part of of His mercy, He gives everyone of His creation.
2. God is Ar-Rabb – the sustainer. He sustains everyone and everything of His creation.
3. An attribute of God is appreciation. In fact, one of his names is Ash-Shakur (the appreciating one). He appreciates good acts from everyone, including his non-believing slaves, and He reciprocates. For non-believers, rewards come in this world, and there will be nothing in the hereafter. However, for the believers, they are rewarded in this world, but their primary reward will be in the hereafter. It is possible that God has rewarded Trump and Putin with power as part of His appreciation of whatever good deeds they have done (again, we are talking about a possibility, and not in certainty, because no one can speak about God with certainty, unless you are a prophet receiving revelation).
4. This world has no value to God. Thus, the power they are enjoying, even though is significant to your eyes, is totally insignificant to God. Sahl bin Sa'd narrated that the Messenger of God (S) said:
“If the world to Allah were equal in worth to a mosquito's wing, then He would not have allowed any disbeliever to have sip of water from it.” [Jaami Tirmidhi]
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