When you are subjected to an evil by someone, is this that person's will or is it God's will? Let's say you were praying for the termination of this injustice and cruelty, and things went on despite your countless prayers, and they came to an end only at a predetermined time by your abuser. Again, is this end God's answer to your prayers or is it purely your abuser's will, given that things progressed according to his plan made in the very beginning?
In the above question, if you want to keep God clear of evil and say that it was the other person's will at work, then you are unknowingly claiming that someone can go out of or despite God's will, hence a limit to God. Plus, your claim is against what God tells in His book (76/30, 81/29)! If, on the other hand, you say that it was always God's will, then you are charging God with committing evil! What is the solution?
Take a different example. Say you are a scientist or engineer, and are designing a device or an experiment. When you finish things, everything works as you planned. Then, is it your will at work or God's? Ask this question once more if that device is used to commit evil, e.g. murder. Where is God's will here?
Let's go one step further. According to current scientific understanding, the earth formed after the big bang and then through the interaction of natural forces. Where is God in all of this? Then also, it is claimed that living things came about through evolution. If this is ultimately proven to be the case (as there is growing body of evidence towards a full theory of evolution), did God not create us?
Last but not the least, had you been born into an atheist environment, you would have grown without an idea of God (at least not a positive one), whereas those born into believing families automatically develop belief in God in their minds. Then, is it your fault that you were born into such a family? Did God plant you into that family so that you, too, are going to grow as an atheist? If you ask the believers, they tell you that in the age of internet, nobody can claim not-knowing as a pretext, and either you become a Muslim and go to paradise or you stay as non-Muslim and go to hell thanks to the invention of internet!
Science and Religion
The cliche answer "science explains how, religion explains why" is problematic in the sense that it compartmentalizes the two, and also gives the impression that as if each has all the answers in its own domain. No! Neither science nor religion has all the answers.
The Creator of the universe did not reveal everything, because He created us with intellect, curiosity, reason, and most importantly with an ability to be inspired by Him. He wants us to question, experiment, make mistakes, take lessons and progress. Had He revealed everything through religion, then our creation as intelligent and progressive creatures would be meaningless. Consequently, science, too, which is humanity's common treasure, is a body of trials and errors, questions, thoughts and progress. Science does not have all the how's. And sometimes, it negates or changes the previous answers it has.
So, if your intention is to reach all of the answers to how's and why's in life through science and religion, I have got bad news for you. There is no such thing. Those who know everything are the ignorant ones! Yet, in the beginning, what distinguished humanity from the angels was learning and teaching, experimenting and taking lessons (2/30-34).
As told in the Quran, this worldly life is a game (29/64, 57/20), and it's got its own rules. We discover some of these rules through science and learn some others from religion. Primarily, the rules from the first enable us to use the creation for our own purposes, but there is more than that. Learning science can help for the betterment of our relationship with our Creator, too, hence the betterment of the afterlife, as well. The latter benefit happens by virtue of the fact that God values the contemplation we do and rewards the appreciation and gratitude towards Him growing in us thereof (35/28).
When we discover the rules governing the nature and the universe, we are actually learning one of the languages with which to talk to God. That is, if I want to design something with a certain speed and strength, I make my calculations and material selections accordingly. This is because God has taught me what He is going to grant me when I do what. More clearly, science and the technology stemming from it is a prayer that is answered as is by God. Science and technology being a form of prayer can be understood by the following. Try to find a scientific proof that the laws of physics are going to exist or not change one second later. You are going to fail if you try to do so, because the ultimate answer you are going to get in this regard is "we haven't seen those laws invalid until now, and the more we try the more we see them valid". Clearly, this is not a proof and it says nothing about the future existence, whereas God is the Sustainer of the heavens and the earth (2/255) and the laws in them (48/23, 35/43).
Before we go to the next section, which is on destiny and free will, the last point to talk about is the theory of evolution. There is a separate series of blogs on this (1,2,3,4,5,Atheism-5), so I am not going to make an elaborate discussion here. I am not going to argue whether it was the case or not, because this is irrelevant in our context. What matters to us for the current topic is that "whatever happened is how God created us". That is, be it through evolution or not, our coming into existence is God's creation, just like sun's illumination on us is a perceptional veil over the fact that God is illuminating us.
Next, it has to be realized that the believers must rid themselves off the cultural and historical biases so that they don't claim something in the name of God when He never made a clear comment on the issue (31/20). Put more clearly, if we don't have explicit comments on the creation, then we must be aware that we are working in terms of interpretations, not God's instructions. Specifically about evolution, let alone being against it, there are many Quranic verses that can be understood as favoring the theory evolution (e.g.71/17,76/1). Again, I am not saying that clear comments exist! All I am saying is that such verses that favor this interpretation exist, and we must know our limits in the relevant discussions.
Yes, this ambiguity can be used by some to support their disbelief, claiming that we came into existence through accidents and so, we don't owe anything to God. But this claim is a manifold of ideas, only one of which is evolution. The blunder in the rest of the claims of such disbelief does not negate the merit of the idea of evolution on its own.
Destiny and Free Will
Although the conventional title for this topic is stated above, it actually is very restrictive in terms of God's actions and manifestations in the universe and on our lives. Let me explain what I mean here. When we say destiny, we mean a list of events that will not change not matter what you do (31/22). The result has been decreed by God's unbounded and infinite will, and this decree obliges you in a certain way (57/22). This understanding is not incorrect, but it leaves no room for the free will. So, let's search for a more comprehensive answer.
We learn the limits of our free will only by trying and pushing our perceived limits. In this regard, science is the study of exploring the limits of our free will (55/33-34). That's how we play with the DNA, explore the space, etc. However, the fact that something is within our free domain doesn't mean that God has nothing to say about it. Just like He created that freedom for us, He also moves the boundaries thereof. He does this in different ways, including guiding people towards each other through inspirations, aspirations and natural needs (2/251,9/14). What we call politics, marketing, advertising, persuasion, etc. are actually the manifestations of God's moving boundaries among our free wills (3/140).
Next, as the classical answer goes, this life is but an examination, and we are tested by the free will (67/2). In a word attributed to Abraham Lincoln, he says "Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power". Harriet Rubin, a modern day publisher, says "Freedom is actually a bigger game than power. Power is about what you can control. Freedom is about what you can unleash". We do whatever we can, good or bad, and these actions of ours that we did willfully become the DNA of what we are going to become in the afterlife (17/49,20/125-126), as we are going to be created with a new creation, similar to being born into this life through our biological DNA's.
Before finishing, we must also find an answer for "going to heaven or hell". In this life, each individual is responsible for what they did with their free wills using what's given to them (2/286). No one can claim to exactly know their destination in the afterlife, unless told by God. And we don't know what is going to happen to anyone in the remainder of their lives. All we can do for ourselves and for each other is to enjoin good and forbid evil. We cannot claim to have a direct route to the paradise mainly because our birth place happens to be a Muslim-majority land and all we did is go with the crowd (7/99). By the same token, we cannot prescribe hell to someone mainly because their birth was not a Muslim-majority land and all they did is follow the crowd (12/87,39/53,29/23,15/56). We all know that evil-acting people exist among all groups of people, including Muslims, and good-acting people exist among all groups of people, including Muslims (3/113-115). So, we should leave the job of judging the hearts to our Merciful and Compassionate God, and strive to be good believers deserving the heaven.
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