The Clearest Reason for Free-Will

By: Ayatullah al-Uzma Naser Makarem Shirazi

1. The general conscience of human beings denies pre destination
Even if philosophers and divine scholars give different reasons for free will of the human being, here we will take a short cut and give the clearest reason given by the supporters of free will and this is the 'universal' or 'collective' conscience of human beings.
That is, no matter what we deny, we cannot deny this reality that in all human societies, including both the worshippers of God and the materialists, East and West, ancient and modern, wealthy and poor, developed or undeveloped, of whatever culture, all without exception, agree that a law should rule human beings and that human beings are responsible before the law and people who disobey the law must be punished.
In other words, the rule of law, the responsibility of individuals before it and the punishment of those who disobey the law are things which all intelligent people agree with and it was only savage, primitive tribes who did not officially recognize these three things.
The fact that we explain this as the general conscience of human beings of the world is the clearest proof of the existence of free will in human beings and the fact that they have free choice.
How can it be accepted that a human being be obliged in his or her actions and that he or she have no freedom of choice but he or she is responsible before the law? And that when a law is broken, that person must be tried and asked why he or she did this or that or did not do this or that.
And if proven guilty, that person is sent to prison or even, depending upon the crime, executed, this is exactly as if we were to punish stones which slide down a mountain causing a landslide on a mountain road which results in the death of one or more human beings.
It is true that a human being differs from a stone, but if we deny free will and choice in a human being, this external difference between them will not be relevant and both will be the victims of fate.
A stone, following the law of gravity, falls upon the roadside and a human being who murders another, is the victim of another factor of fate. Thus, the logic of those who believe in predetermination allows for no distinction to be made between a stone and a human being from the point of view of result and neither acted according to their own free will. Why should one be tried and not the other?
We are at a crossroads. We either have to deny the existence of the common conscience of all of the people of the world and consider the courts, punishment of those who disobey the law to be ridiculous and useless and even oppressive or deny the beliefs of the fatalists. Obviously the latter is preferable.
It is interesting to note that those who believe in the school of fatalism, and give reasons for their belief, when they are faced with a real life situation, they act according to free will!
For instance, if a person aggresses against them, or annoys or bothers them, they take this person to court and do not rest at ease until that person is punished.
Well, if it is really true that a person has no choice or free will, what is all of this commotion and court and trial about?
At any rate, this common conscience of the intelligent of the world is a living idea for the reality that human beings have accepted the existence of free will in the depths of their being and has always been loyal to that and cannot live without the belief for even one day and have the wheels of social and individual programs progress.
A great Iranian philosopher, Khawjeh Nasir al-din Tusi, in discussing predestination and free will says in one short sentence in his book Kitab Tajrubah bin al-'Aqa'id, "Our necessary understanding and conscience tells us that we are responsible for all of our deeds."

2. The Contradiction between the Logic of Predestination and Free-Will
That which we have said above was about the contradiction between the school of predestination and the common conscience of the intelligence of the world, both from the point of view of supporters of religion and people who do not at all accept religion.
But from the point of view of religious thought, there is another sure reason for recognizing the falsity of the school of fatalism.
As religious belief can never agree with fatalism, religious programs, as well, are all altered by accepting this school of thought.
How can we reconcile the justice of God which we proved in previous lessons with the school of fatalism? How is it possible that God oblige someone to do an evil deed? Then punish him because he did it. This does not agree with any kind of logic!
Thus, by accepting the school of fatalism, spiritual rewards, punishments, heaven and hell are meaningless as well as 'scroll of deeds', 'questioning', 'Divine reckoning', 'reprimanding the evil doers in the Quran', 'encouragement and praise for those who do good', all of these lose their meaning. Because according to this school, neither do the good doers or the evil doers have a choice.
In addition, in religion, one of the first issues we encounter is 'duty' or 'responsibility' but does 'duty' or 'responsibility' make any sense if a person has no choice?
Can we tell a person whose hands involuntarily shake, not to shake their hands? Or tell a person who is falling down a steep mountain to standstill?
It is because of this that Imam 'Ali, peace be upon him, says in a famous tradition recorded in the Usul Kafi, vol. I, p. 119, that the school of fatalism is a school of idol worship whose followers are members of Iblis' party: 'These words of idol worshipping brothers, enemies of God, and members of Iblis' party."

Think and Answer
1. What is the clearest reason for the falsity of fatalism
2. Describe the general or common conscience of people of the world which believes in the principle of free will.
3. Do the followers of the school of fatalism act according to their beliefs?
4. Does fatalism agree with the principle of Divine justice? If not, why?
5. Why is free will the basis for accepting any kind of duty or responsibility?

What Is The Middle Way?

1. Conferring as opposed to Fatalism
Of course, opposing the belief in fatalism, which is one kind of an extreme, is the school of 'conferring', which is at the other extreme.
Those who accept this school believe that God created us and then put everything at our disposal and that, in general, He is not responsible for anything that we do and in this way, we are completely independent in choosing what we do.
Doubtlessly, this belief does not agree with monotheism because monotheism has taught us that God rules the entire world and nothing is beyond His control. Even our free will and free choice cannot be beyond His realm, otherwise multitheism would, of necessity, result.
In other words, we cannot believe in two gods, one, the great Creator of the universe and the other, a small one who is the human being who is free to do whatever he or she wishes, completely free and independent and even God cannot affect what he or she wishes to do.
This is multitheism. This is duality and polytheism. What is important is that we know human beings have freedom of choice and free will at the same time that we know God to be the Ruler over all persons and deeds.

2. The School of the Middle Way
The fine point to recognize is here, that we not imagine that there is a contradiction between the two. The fact is that we both accept God's justice as well as the freedom and responsibility of His servants as well as unity and His rule over the entire universe of existence and this is that very thing which is known as the 'middle way' (something which is between two extremes).
Let us clarify this with an example as the issue is a very complicated one. Let us assume that you are traveling on an electric train and you are the driver of the train. A strong electric cable has been placed along the line of the train and the train is connected with a link to this electric cable and moves and moment after moment the electricity is passed to the locomotive in such a way that if for just one moment, the electricity to the locomotive stops, the whole train will stop.
Without doubt, you are free. You can stop wherever you want and you can move at your own speed. But in spite of all of this freedom, the person who is sending the electricity can, at any moment, make you stop because all of your power and strength is that very electricity and he holds the key.
When we note this example with care, we see that even though one has such freedom, choice and responsibility, one is completely at the disposal of the power of another and these two do not contradict each other.
Another example: Assume that the hand muscles of a person as the result of illness or the occurring of an unforeseen event, do not work and he does not have the power to move his hand but if we connect that to a very small amount of electricity, the nerves will be warmed and become capable of movement.
Whenever such a person commits a crime with that hand, for instance, and in that very state, strikes another person in their face, strikes a knife in an innocent person, it is clear who the person responsible is because he both had the power and the choice and a person who has will power is responsible for what he does.
But at the same time, that person who gives his hand electricity and creates his power and strength, rules over him and while he is free and has a choice, he is in his grasp.
Now let us return to the main point. God has given us physical power or strength and from moment to moment, it continues and if it is cut, off for even a moment, and our connection with Him be cut off, we would be destroyed.
If we can do anything it is because we have strength which He has given us and it continues moment by moment and even our freedom and choice is also from Him. That is, He willed that we be free and by making use of this great Divine kindness, one can transform one's self.
Thus, at the same time that we have free choice and a free will, we are in His grasp and we will l1ever move beyond His realm. At the same time that we have: strength and power, we are dependent upon Him and without Him, we will be destroyed and this cis what 'the middle way' means because neither have we recognized any creature to be equal to God, which would bring multitheism nor do we believe creatures are obliged to act as they do which would bring oppression.
We have learned this lesson from our pure Imams, peace upon them. Whenever they were asked, "Does anything exist between fatalism and conferring?" They said, "Yea. More extensive than the distance between heaven and earth." (See Usul Kafi. vol. 1, p. 121)

3. The Holy Quran and fatalism and free choice
The Holy Quran states this issue directly and proves the free will of human beings and there are hundreds of verses which talk about free will.
• All of the verses which relate to commanding to virtue and preventing vice are all proof of the free will of human beings because if a person were obliged to do so, doing so would make no sense.
• All of the verses which speak of blame and reproach against the evil doers and praise for the good doers are proof of free will because if one was obliged to do whatever one did, blame or praise would make no sense.
• All of the verses which speak about the questioning on the Day of Judgment and the Judgment in that Court and then the rewards and punishments and heaven and hell are proof of free will because if one were to assume that everything was predestined then questioning, judging, rewards and punishments would all be oppressive.
• All of the verses which say that a human being is responsible for his or her deeds: "Every soul will be (held) in pledge for its deeds.” (74:38)
"(Yet) in each individual in pledge for his deeds." (52:21)
Verses like, "We showed him the Way: whether he be grateful or ungrateful (rests on his will).”(76:3)

Think and Answer:
1. What is meant by 'conferring' and what error is hidden in it?
2. Describe, in a clear way, the 'middle way' which we learned from the Imams and give examples.
3. What does the Holy Quran say about free will and predestination?
4. If we accept the idea of fatalism, what happens to spiritual rewards and punishments and heaven and hell?
5. Is the verse, "But you will not except as God Wills... "(76:30), proof of fatalism?