Free Will in Islam - Does God Choose Who are the Guided Ones?
God has given the human being free will so that we are able to choose right from wrong. Throughout our lives we are constantly being tested with our choices among our affairs; will we do the right thing or will we side with evil?
We learn in the scripture of the wrongful acts that are sinful and worthy of punishment, while good works are rewarded. Our choices are what defines us as being a good or a bad person.
So what about our free will when it comes to our faith, does God choose our path for us?
We learn in the Quran that nothing happens except as God wills:
And you will not will unless God wills, the Lord of the Worlds.. 81:29
God guides whom He wills to a straight path:
God has brought down the Best Hadith: a Book containing similarities and pairs. The skins of those who fear their Lord shiver there-from, then their skins and their hearts soften up with the remembrance of God. Such is God’s guidance by which He guides whom He wills. And whoever God misguides, he will have no guide. 39:23
The one whom God guides is the truly guided one, and the one He misguides, those are the losers. 7:178
It is certainly God who handles the affair and it is God who is in full control.
If We had brought the angels down to them, and the dead spoke to them, and We gathered all things before them, they still would not believe unless God wills it, but most of them are ignorant. 6:111
God states in the Quran that He selects the religion and points out the pathways to the people:
..Today, the disbelievers have given up on your religion, so do not fear them, but fear Me. Today, I have completed your religion for you, perfected My blessing upon you and approved Submission as the religion for you.. 5:3
It is God who points out the paths, including the crooked ones. If He willed, He could have guided you all. 16:9
Our behaviour directly determines whether or not we deserve the guidance.
God guides those who have good in their hearts:
O you prophet, say to those in your hands of the captives, “If God knows of any good in your hearts, He will grant you better than what was taken away from you and will forgive you. God is Forgiver, Merciful.” 8:70
Is the reward of goodness anything other than goodness? 55:60
God guides those who turn to Him:
..God sends astray whom He wills, and guides to Himself those who turn to Him." 13:27
God guides those who seek His consent:
With it, God guides those who seek His consent to the paths of peace, takes them out of the darkness into the light with His permission, and guides them to a straight path. 5:16
God guides those who believe and do good deeds:
As for those who believe and do good deeds, their Lord guides them by virtue of their faith. 10:9
God guides those who strive in the cause of God:
As for those who strive in Our cause, We will guide them to Our paths, and indeed, God is with the good-doers. 29:69
God guides those who follow the Book of God:
who listen to what is being said then follow the best of it. Those are the ones whom God has guided, and those are the ones who possess intelligence. 39:18
God guides those who choose to see:
Insights have come to you from your Lord, so whoever chooses to see, it is for his own good, and whoever chooses to turn blind does so to his own detriment. I am not a guardian over you. 6:104
God makes disbelief and wickedness hateful to those with good hearts:
And know that among you is the messenger of God. Had he obeyed you in many matters, you would have faced difficulty, but God has endeared the faith to you and adorned it in your hearts. And He made disbelief, wickedness, and disobedience hateful to you. Those are the rightly guided. 49:7
Those who were arrogant and denied His revelations will be averted from the guidance:
I will avert from My revelations those who are arrogant in the earth with no right. Were they to see every sign, they still would not believe in it. If they see the path of correctness, they do not take it for a path, and if they see the path of error, they take it for a path. That is because they denied Our revelations and were oblivious thereof. 7:146
God does not guide the transgressors:
Who is more transgressing than one who fabricates lies about God while he is being invited to Submission? God does not guide the transgressing people. 61:7
[5:108] God does not guide the wicked people.
God does not guide the one who is a liar, a disbeliever. 39:3
God does not guide the one who is excessive and a liar. 40:28
God allows the devil to lead on the disbelievers, since they have chosen to side with evil.
Recite for them the news of the one to whom We gave Our revelations, but he peeled himself away from them, and so the devil pursued him, and he became one of the strayers. 7:175
Those who prefer to follow their personal desire, instead of the guidance, will not succeed:
Had We willed, We could have elevated him therewith, but he clung to the ground and followed his personal desire. His likeness is the like of a dog; if you chase him, he pants, and if you leave him alone, he pants. Such is the example of the people who denied Our revelations. So narrate the stories so that they may reflect. 7:176
And when they deviate, God makes their hearts deviate.
And when Moses said to his people, “O my people, why do you harm me when you know that I am the messenger of God to you?” Then when they deviated, God made their hearts deviate. God does not guide the wicked people. 61:5
Let’s remember, anything good comes from God and that includes His guidance.
Good things happen to good people, while the evil-doers are stricken with misery as a consequence for their actions.
And God does not change the affairs of a people until they change what is within themselves:
followers are there for him, before him and behind him, to guard him by God’s command. God does not change the affairs of a people until they change what is within themselves. If God wills any harm to come to a people, there is no turning it back, nor do they have an ally against Him. 13:11
Those who choose to see will be the successful ones:
Insights have come to you from your Lord, so whoever chooses to see, it is for his own good, and whoever chooses to turn blind does so to his own detriment. I am not a guardian over you. 6:104
This is a reminder, so whoever wills shall pursue a path to his Lord. 76:29
and your Lord you shall seek. 94:8
Peace & God Bless