سورة الفرقان

Imam Baqir (peace be upon him): Allah, the Blessed and Exalted, has always been Knowing and Eternal. He created things from nothing. Those who believe that Allah created things from something have committed disbelief in Him, because that thing from which He created things would have to be eternal and coexistent with the Exalted Truth from pre-eternity; whereas it is not so. Rather, the Exalted Truth created things from nothing.

Imam Ali (peace be upon him): Every maker of a thing makes it from something, but Allah made what He created from nothing.

Imam Rida (peace be upon him): Hamdan ibn Sulayman said: I wrote a letter to Imam Rida (peace be upon him) and asked him about whether the actions of the servants are created or not. The Imam wrote in reply: "The actions of the servants were known in the knowledge of Allah two thousand years before their creation."

Imam Rida (peace be upon him): Fadl ibn Shadhan said: Ma'mun asked Imam Rida (peace be upon him) to write for him the pure [essence of] Islam ... The Imam (peace be upon him) said ... The actions of the servants are created by Allah — a creation of ordainment (taqdir), not a creation of bringing into being (takwin), and Allah the Exalted is the Creator of all things.

Imam Rida (peace be upon him): Indeed Allah, the Mighty and Majestic, decreed the measures and arranged all affairs two thousand years before the creation of Adam (peace be upon him).

Imam Kazim (peace be upon him): Mu'alla ibn Muhammad said: Imam Kazim (peace be upon him) was asked about the nature of Allah's knowledge. He said: "[It is] knowledge, will (mashi'ah), intention (iradah), decree and measure (qada wa qadar), and execution (imda'). Execution — He executes whatever is decreed, and His decree is that which has been ordained, and the ordained matter is what is intended. So through His knowledge comes will, and following will comes intention, and the outcome of intention is ordainment (taqdir), and through ordainment comes decree, and by His decree comes execution. Thus the rank of knowledge is before will, and the rank of will is after it, and intention likewise is after will; ordainment falls upon decree in the case of execution. And the divine bada' (alteration) exists in that which He knows — when it will be — and in the matters whose ordainment He has willed. But if the divine decree is accompanied by execution, no bada' takes place. So Allah's knowledge of existents is before their existence, and His will regarding things is before their external existence, and Allah's intention concerning that which He has intended is before its establishment. Divine ordainment in all affairs becomes final and definitive before their explication, detailing, external existence and the time of their execution. And the essences of bodies — such as colour, smell, weight, measure, movement, and the determination of their kind, whether reckoned among jinn, men, birds and beasts, and the rest of the distinctions perceived through the senses — are among the matters in which bada' in the divine knowledge is admissible for Allah before their external realisation; but after their creation bada' does not occur. Allah یَفْعَلُ ما یَشاءُ [does whatever He wills]. Through knowledge He becomes informed of things before they come to be, and through His will He knows their attributes and limits before they appear, and by intention He distinguishes colours and attributes, and by ordainment He ordains their capacity and share and knows their beginning and end, and by decree the places of things become manifest to people and they are guided towards them, and by execution the causes of things are explained and made clear. ذلِکَ تَقْدِیرُ الْعَزِیزِ الْعَلِیمِ [That is the ordaining of the Mighty, the Knowing]."

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): He has no need of anything He has created, and all His creation stand in need of Him. He created things without any need and without any cause, by invention and origination.

Imam Ali (peace be upon him): Actions are of three states: obligations, virtues, and sins. As for the obligations, they are by the command of Allah the Mighty and Majestic, and by Allah's pleasure, decree, ordainment, will, and knowledge. As for the virtues, they are not by the command of Allah, but by Allah's pleasure, decree, measure, will, and knowledge. As for the sins, they are not by the command of Allah, but by Allah's decree, measure, will, and knowledge. Then He punishes for them.

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): The actions of the servants are created with a creation of ordainment, not a creation of bringing into being. "Allah is the creator of everything" (Zumar/62). And we hold neither to jabr (compulsion) nor to tafwid (delegation).

Imam Kazim (peace be upon him): Ali ibn Ibrahim al-Hashimi said: I heard Imam Kazim (peace be upon him) say: "Nothing comes into being except what Allah wills, intends, ordains, and decrees." I said: "What is the meaning of 'wills'?" He said: "The beginning of the act." I said: "What is the meaning of 'ordains'?" He said: "It is the measuring of a thing in its length and breadth." I said: "What is the meaning of His decree?" He said: "When He decrees, He makes it final, and that is why it cannot be turned back."

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): Abu Basir said: I said to Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): "[Has] Allah willed, intended, ordained, and decreed?" He said: "Yes." I said: "And has He also loved it?" He said: "No." I said: "How is it that He has willed, intended, ordained, and decreed, but has not loved [it]?" He said: "Thus has it reached us."

Imam Rida (peace be upon him): Yunus said: Imam Rida (peace be upon him) said: "O Yunus! Do you know the meaning of taqdir (ordainment)?" I said: "I do not know." Imam Rida (peace be upon him) said: "Taqdir means the fixing of the limits — of the appointed times of death, the measure of provision, and the determining of the length of the life and death of individuals."