Angels and Predestination

Two beliefs, one question

The specification puts angels and predestination together, and at first that looks like two unrelated ideas bolted into one topic. It is not. ⭐ Both are answers to a single question: how much of what happens is already decided, and who is carrying it out? Muslims believe angels are beings created by Allah with NO WILL OF THEIR OWN. They do exactly what they are given to do, and never disobey. Muslims believe human beings are the opposite. They have real freedom to choose, and they are ANSWERABLE for what they choose. And al-Qadr, the belief in the decree of Allah, is the belief that Allah knows and has decreed all that will be. ⭐⭐ Put those three together and you reach the question every student actually asks: how can a person be judged for their choices if Allah already knows what they will do? ⚠️ That is the live question of this whole topic. Carry it through everything below: is Allah knowing the same as Allah forcing?

Angels, and human beings

Start by separating the two kinds of being this topic is about, because almost everything else follows from the difference between them.

Order how a deed is recorded

In Islamic belief, put these stages of a single human action into order.

• A person faces a choice, free to act one way or another
• The person chooses, and carries the action out
• The recording angels write the deed down
• The deed stands as a true account of what was done
• On the Day of Judgement, that account is read back

Knowing, and forcing

Muslims disagree about how al-Qadr fits with human freedom. Which answer best reflects the range of views a good response would set out?

• Views differ: many Muslims hold that Allah knowing what a person will choose is not the same as Allah forcing the choice, and Muslims in different traditions weigh decree and freedom differently, so a strong answer sets the positions out rather than settling it
• If Allah has decreed everything, then people cannot really choose and cannot be blamed for anything
• Allah does not know what people will do, so choices are completely open
• The question does not matter to Muslims

Words for this belief

Five terms, each defined so you can use it in a sentence rather than only recognise it.

Find the sentence that states the tension

A student writes about al-Qadr. Select the ONE sentence that states the real difficulty the belief has to address.

• Muslims believe that Allah has decreed all that will happen.
• Angels carry out the commands of Allah without fail.
• If Allah already knows every choice a person will make, it is hard to see how the person can be held responsible for making it, and that is the tension the belief must address.
• The recording angels write down what people do.
• I find the idea of predestination very interesting.

Which statements about angels are true

Select the TWO statements that reflect Islamic belief about angels.

• Muslims believe angels were created by Allah, from light, among his first creations
• Muslims believe angels have no free will and always do exactly as they are commanded
• Angels are believed to sin from time to time, much as human beings do
• Angels will be judged for their actions on the Day of Judgement

The question under both halves

This topic hands you the two ends of one question, and the exam wants you to hold them together. ⭐ The angels are one end: some of what happens is simply carried out, by beings with no choice in it. ⭐ Human life is the other end: some of what happens is chosen, freely, by people who will answer for it. ⭐ al-Qadr sets the frame around both: Allah knows and has decreed what will be. ⭐⭐ The live question is where those meet. If it is known, how is it free? The answer most Muslims give is that Allah knowing a choice is not Allah forcing it, and traditions such as the Mu'tazilite and the Ash'ari have weighed the balance differently. ⚠️ In the exam, attribute every position and set out the range. Marks come from explaining the reasoning, never from declaring which tradition is right.

Match each angel to its duty

A parent who already knows

Leave religion aside for a moment. A parent has watched their child every single morning for years. They know, before the child has said a word, which breakfast the child will pick, because it is the same one every day. The parent could tell you the answer in advance and be right almost every time. ⭐ But look closely at what the parent knowing does NOT do. It does not reach into the kitchen and make the child pick. The child still picks, freely, from what is there. The parent simply knows them well enough to see it coming. ⭐⭐ Knowing what someone will pick, and making them pick it, are two different things. The first can be complete without the second ever happening. And suppose the parent quietly noted down each morning what the child picked. The note would be an accurate account, but it would be an account of real choices, not a set of instructions the child had to obey. That is the shape to carry back into the belief. Seeing something coming is not the same as making it happen, and a true account of what a person chose is not a script they were handed.

Complete the angels and al-Qadr facts

Muslims believe that _____ are beings created by Allah with no will of their own, so unlike human beings they are _____ and are never judged. The belief that Allah knows and has decreed all that will happen is called _____. Human beings, by contrast, are given real free will, which is why they are _____ for what they do. Most Muslims hold that Allah knowing a choice is not the same as Allah _____ it. The two questions this topic keeps returning to are how much is already decided, and who is _____ it out.

Build the balanced view

Assemble a balanced statement of how Muslims hold al-Qadr and human freedom together.

Angels and al-Qadr quick-fire

Five quick decisions. Three lives.

Answer the hardest question

Someone says: if Allah already knows everything I will do, then my choices are not real and I cannot be blamed for anything. Work through your answer.

• How do you begin?
• They ask how knowing can leave a choice genuinely free. What is the strongest answer?
• They point out that Muslims themselves disagree about this. How do you handle that?

Evaluate the tension

Some people argue that if Allah has decreed everything, human beings cannot truly be free and cannot be held responsible for what they do. Evaluate this view, using Islamic beliefs about angels, al-Qadr and human freedom.

• Explain what al-Qadr means and why Muslims hold it
• Explain how angels, who have no free will, differ from human beings, who do
• Give the view that the decree removes human responsibility, and the response that knowing is not forcing, attributing each
• Note that Muslims in different traditions weigh the decree and human freedom differently
• Reach a judgement and support it, remembering that no position is being marked as the right one