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lahū maqālīdu s-samāwāti wa-l-ʾarḍi wa-lladhīna kafarū bi-ʾāyāti llāhi ʾulāʾika humu l-khāsirūna
To Him belong the keys of the heavens and the earth, and those who disbelieve in the signs of Allah—it is they who are the losers.
— Ali Quli Qarai
Surah al-Zumar - Verses 62 - 63
62. Allah is the Creator of all things and He is the Guardian, Preserver, and Controller of all things.
63. To Him belongs the keys of the heavens and the earth. And those who disbelieve in Divine Signs and Verses, such are they who will be the losers.
The real monotheist believes in all dimensions of Divine Unity: Unity in Creatorship, Unity in Lordship, and Unity in worship. The following Verse says:
In other words, all existent beings need Him in creation and survival.
The first and the second clauses refer to Unity in Creatorship and Unity in Lordship respectively. It is noteworthy that even most of the polytheists admitted Unity of Creatorship, as it is reflected in Verse 38 of the Chapter in question:
However, they had gone astray concerning Unity of Lordship, since they regarded idols as their guardians, preservers and disposers of their affairs and sought refuge in them in hardships. The Holy Qur’an actually makes a reference to such belief saying that disposing the affairs of the world as well as its preservation and protection are at the hand of its Creator, as a consequence of which, people are supposed to seek refuge in Him at all times.
In his Lisan al-’Arab, Ibn Mansur makes mention of different senses for the word wakil, e.g. guardian, preserver, and disposer of affairs. Thus, it becomes evident that idols lead to neither gain, nor loss. They neither solve problems, nor do they make problems. They are weak and useless objects incapable of doing anything. The clause:
is employed by some adherents of the school of predestination as an argument for their false belief, saying that their acts are referred to in the Verse in question, hence, Allah is the Creator of such acts, even if people physically carry out such acts. Their gross mistake stems from their inability to comprehend that Divine Lordship as to man’s acts has nothing to do with his free will, since Divine Will and human will are not parallel but rather interrelated lengthwise; in other words, man’s acts are related to God and to himself.
On the one hand, all things in the world of existence are encompassed by Divine Omnipotence hence his acts are created by Him, since He provides man with power, intellect, free will, and the required means to act. Consequently, man’s acts may be ascribed to Him. He wills that man enjoys free will to act. He provides man will the means required for acting upon his will. Yet, man is free to choose his acts, as a consequence of which such acts are ascribed to him and he is responsible against them.
One who claims that man is the creator of his own acts and God has nothing to do with them is a polytheist, since he believes in two creators, the Great Creator and the small creator. If one claims that God is the Creator of his acts and he has nothing to do with it, he has gone astray since he has denied Divine Wisdom and Justice. Would it be possible that man be responsible for His Acts? If so, responsibility, obligation, the Hereafter, reckoning, chastisement and reward would be meaningless.
Therefore, the standard Muslim dogmas based on Qur’anic Verses demonstrate that all human acts are ascribed both to Him and man and such ascription is not inconsistent in the least, since the relation between the two is not parallel but lengthwise.