Freedom and Determinism

option than to use the divine infrastructure. In terms of free-will, he enjoys complete freedom, but in terms of infrastructure, he is completely under God’s command. There are three categories of Muslim scholars, each of whom thinks differently on this subject—Qadriya, Jabriya and Wasatiya. Wasatiya scholars believe in the above equation, that is, in terms of intention and planning, man is completely free, but in terms of implementation or actualization, man has no freedom. He is compelled to find support from God. According to the Quran, man is accountable before God. This means that this accountability is confined to his intention or free-will. His reward or punishment will be commensurate with his intention and his right or wrong exercise of free will. The above equation is a completely rational one. Man enjoys free-will in the complete sense of the word, but he has no power to create an infrastructure such as the life-support system or any of the other things needed for the execution of his plans. So, God Almighty has provided him with everything that is required in a good infrastructure. Man has total liberty to exercise his freewill in exploiting this infrastructure and, in doing so, experiences no restriction whatsoever. Man’s every action is being recorded by the angels of God and according to this record, a person will be either rewarded or punished on the Day of Judgement. As regards man’s accountability, only one criterion will apply: whether man exercised his freedom in a proper manner or he misused his freedom.