(September 22, 2012 at 1:36 pm)MysticKnight Wrote: There is a lot of verses that state God doesn’t guide the disbelieving people. Other verses state that God doesn’t guide the unjust peopleThat's not a contradiction, is it?
And yeah, the verse "Allah guides whom He wills" is one of the things that seems to confuse a lot of people (even Muslims). It gives an impression as if man doesn't have any free will in regards to his faith and that God is the only who can guide him toward the truth. However, I don't think that's true, because my understanding of God's guidance is that it is (1) determined by His attributes, not by whim and (2) it is also dependent on the internal quality of the heart. This means that a good heart will be drawn to further goodness, whereas a bad heart may decide to repent or it may harden into a deeper state of rebellion.
An analogy of the above would be the the rays of the sun, shining down and spreading light and warmth on the earth. Under the same benevolence, a lump of wax will soften and melt, but, on the other hand, a lump of clay will harden more and more as time goes on. Similarly, one's disbelief is inclined to become stronger and deeper as he remains in that state and, on the other hand, one's belief is inclined to become stronger and deeper as he remains in that state. This, I think, implies that God's guidance is actually dependent on our own internal qualities.
I don't believe that we have complete free will, but I believe that we must have at least some degree of free will in order for personal accountability and love of God to have any real meaning in our lives whatsoever. Islam teaches that man is a being of free will that continuously chooses either the way of his fitrah (spiritual nature) or the way of his tabi’ah (animal nature), and so it is with this free will, or rather, a "limited" type of free will, that man determines his life in the Hereafter. See the article below on the topic of free will and determinism:
Free Will and Determinism from a Scientific and Religious Perspective
