Symposium 20
Is Punishment Equal to Sin?
Anwar:Salam ‘Alaykom, Akhi Hasan!
Hasan:‘Alaykom As-Salam Wa Rahmatollah Wa Barakatoh! I can see you already have a question.
Anwar:Indeed! Usually, punishment is equal to the crime committed, quantitatively and qualitatively. Yet, we see that this formula is not achieved for the otherworldly punishments; researches confirm that some criminals remain in fire although their sin is less in time than that of their punishment. How is that?
Hasan:You are saying that the punishment has to be equivalent to the crime; this is what the man-made or manufactured punishment is about. However, when the punishment has a positive effect towards the criminal act, we do not see this consistency neither in quantity nor in quality.
Anwar:Can you clarify this using an example?
Hasan:Yes, of course. A driver might lose his attention for a very short while, yet this can cost him a lot. He can have a car crash and get seriously injured, and he might have to live with this for a long time or he could even lose his life because of that inattention.
Anwar:Thank you very much. It is really obvious now. Is there anything else regarding the Divine justice you need to mention?
Hasan:Yes, there is. One of the important things is the idea of God charging mankind with certain responsibilities. The point here is whether the Glorious Allah demands people to fulfill commands they are not able to endure.
Anwar:What do you mean?
Hasan:I mean can the Almighty Allah order people to make a camel enter through a threading hole or command them to fly?
Anwar:The Almighty Allah is free to command whatever He sees fit. We all are His slaves and nothing can prevent Him from doing so!
Hasan:Yes, everything is under Allah’s domination, but this does not mean He demands people to do what they are not capable of doing. This is absolutely unjust and the Gracious Allah is far above injustice, as it is also a form of lacking to be unjust and Allah is the Absolute Perfection.
Anwar:Great. This is a very reasonable elaboration, but will you give some evidence from the Noble Quran?
Hasan:Yes, there is a lot of evidence. Some of which are:
(Allah tasketh not a soul beyond its scope…)2;286.
(…and thy Lord is not at all a tyrant to His slaves)41;46.
(…and thy lord wrongeth no one)18;49. , and many other Verses.
Anwar:Thank you very much. I would like to leave now. I have to do something important. I hope we can meet up tomorrow, Inshallah!
Hasan:Inshallah! See you then.
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Symposium 21
Fate and Destiny
Anwar:Salam ‘Alaykom, Akhi Hasan!
Hasan:‘Alaykom As-Salam Wa Rahmatollah Wa Barakatoh!
Anwar:We have already discussed the Divine Justice, but before we move on, I would like to talk about something that has been tackled a lot, namely fate and destiny.
Hasan:Raising this subject needs some scientific grounding, because it is such a deep philosophical issue. However, I will try to deal with it in general and in short so that it would suit your knowledge. What do you say?
Anwar:As you like, sir. You know better.
Hasan:All right! Dear Brother, fate and destiny are Islamic issues mentioned both in the Noble Quran and Honorable Sunna, and we need to believe in them because Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) ordered us to do so in this Hadith:(There are four God does not look at in Judgment Day: the ungrateful to parents, the favor reminder, the fate refuter and the alcoholic).
Anwar:So, we must believe in them whether we knew the details to them or not.
Hasan:Very good. Wise answer, but it’ll be good if we know something about them in brief.
Anwar:Go ahead. I’m all ears!
Hasan:First, we need to define fate and destiny:
Fate linguistically means to limit the amount, value and price of everything.
Destiny linguistically means to perform something precisely and accurately.
In fact, destiny refers to many concepts, some of which
were mentioned by Sheikh Al-Mofid([3]) – God bless his soul:“It can mean creation, command, informing and even judgment; this way we can understand this Holly Verse: (Then He ordained them seven heavens in two Days)41;12, that is, He made them expertly”.
Anwar:It is as if nothing can be done without knowing fate and destiny conventionally, isn’t it?
Hasan:Very true. Now, you are going to know both of them conventionally, and of course, to know them ‘conventionally’ refers to the knowledge we get about them from the experts in ideology and scholastic theology. We can talk now about these two basic elements:
Fate or estimation conventionally means all of the characteristics of something that is related to time, place, quantity and quality, i.e. the boundaries of its existence from being to non-being.
Anwar:Talk to me clearly, I beg you!
Hasan:I will do so next time, and with examples, Inshallah. See you!
[3]Sheikh Al-Mofid (948 – 1022): Abu Abdullah Mohammed bin Mohammed bin Al-No'man Al'okbori Al-Baghdadi. Known as Al-Sheikh Al-Mofid and ibn Al-Mu'allim for his expertise as a traditionalist and philosophical theologist. He was an emineng twelver shi'a theologian.
Symposium 22
More on Fate and Destiny
Anwar:Salam ‘Alaykom!
Hasan:‘Alaykom As-Salam , Akhi Anwar! You must be waiting for the rest of our discussion.
Anwar:I am looking forwards for that!
Hasan:Fate is like when we want to estimate the value of a building. So, we say, for instance, it consists of three floors, and in each floor, there are four flats made of reinforced concrete; the area of premises is four hundred square meters, and it is all covered with brown decorative stone, and so on and so forth. These features are representing the estimation of objects and so is fate.
Anwar:Excellent. Now, what does destiny mean?
Hasan:Destiny conventionally is segments of causes for the existence of something come together to an extent that makes it essential to exist.
Anwar:Elaborate, please.
Hasan:In other words, if something is described within its supposed boundaries, it is judged that there is no hindrance for it to occur.
Anwar:Will you clarify destiny using the example you have just used for fate?
Hasan:If we can get the land, the construction materials and the layout, and we decided the dimensions and colors, only then can the civil engineer determine the construction of that building.
Anwar:It is time now to bring what we learned into effect in real life. What do you say?
Hasan:Before doing so, I need to tell you two Hadith supporting what we just said:
First, it is reported that Yunis asked Abu Al-Hasan Al-Riza (PBUH) about the meaning of fate and destiny. His