Question 3:
Isn’t this then an act of compelling?
Answer 3:
A: Allah is al-Jabbar. The compeller; the One whose will is compelling. The corporeal worlds (engendered existence) are compelled to comply with His demands! There is no room for refusal. This ‘jabr’ (compelling) quality will inevitably express itself and apply its laws through the essence of beings.
B: In reality and from the point of non-duality, since you don’t have an actual existence, this view is rendered invalid at the onset. You’re comprised of a name, an assumed existence, a constructed identity, made up of the five senses, a relative being. In respect of your cells you’re a big cellular mass, in respect of light you’re an illuminant being comprising all sorts of colors, in respect of your brain you’re a cosmic being programmed to output a specific function, and yet in respect of your essential reality you comprise all of the qualities of the universe!
Question 4:
If I don’t have a separate existence and I don’t actually exist then why is there a place called hell, why should I be subject to suffering?
Answer 4:
This is true for now too yet you’re constantly being subject to different forms of suffering. Just as you burn and suffer in this life the same form of burning and suffering will be in effect in the life after.
Question 5:
If my fate is predetermined then I’m not going to perform any of the spiritual practices. If I’m fated to go to hell I’ll go to hell and if I’m fated to go to heaven I’ll go to heaven anyway.
Answer 5:
If Allah has created one for heaven he will facilitate him to do the deeds of the people of heaven and if he has created him for hell then he will ease the deeds of the inhabitant of hell. Whatever you’re created for that will become easy for you anyway. You will most certainly and inescapably live the consequences of your actions.
Question 6:
Prayer can prevent misfortune. Isn’t this changing fate?
Answer 6:
That prayer is also a part of ones fate.
Question 7:
Do I not have a personal will then?
Answer 7:
A: Nowhere in the Quran or any of the hadiths the phrase “personal will” is mentioned.
B: Since the whole of existence is no other than His existence, His Absolute Will is in effect in every iota of existence. If He wills to lift the veil that covers your foresight (basirah) you will see that everything you think you own is owned by the One. One’s personal will is nothing other than the Absolute will guised as a person’s will. There is no “person” in essence so how can there be a personal will? The universe is a non-dual single being.